


Raven's Revenge

by Pricefieldnerd



Series: Teen Titans: The Written Series [1]
Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bisexual Character, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexuality, Childhood Memories, Dark, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Female Character, Major Original Character(s), Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Original Character(s), Physical Abuse, Platonic Relationships, Romance, Sad, Sad with a Happy Ending, Secret Relationship, Tragedy, Violence, old
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 22:06:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 51,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14819763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pricefieldnerd/pseuds/Pricefieldnerd
Summary: This story and many others were made when I was 12-13 years old, so please feel free to cringe all you want, lol.As for an actual summary: Raven is haunted by an evil villain, and is threatened multiple times. She meets a young teenage girl that she had a vision about, and afterwards, her life takes a turn for disaster... will the girl be able to save the Titans?





	1. Prolouge

   "Tell them everything," A black, shadowy figure said. The voice was deep, and Raven didn't recall ever seeing this person- or figure- before. "Tell them your secrets. Tell them your life. Or I will." The figure continued. Raven stiffened. She blinked, and it was gone.

 

**Characters:**

**Teen Titans:**

Raven

Robin

Starfire

Beast Boy

Cyborg

 **New Addition:** Stephanie

**Honorary Titans:**

Kole

Gnaark

**Special Appearances:**

**(Young Justice.)**

Miss Martian

Superboy

Aqualad

Kid Flash

Dick

Artemis

Zatanna

Rocket

Red Arrow

Batman (mentioned)

**Villains:**

Slade

Control Freak

Terra

Doctor Light

Eclipse

Psimon (Young Justice)

Trigon (mentioned)

 

 

 

**Prologue**

     _"Fathers are kind!" Raven screamed, throwing white power at Trigon. Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy all stared at her white form: long, beautiful purple hair, white outfit, white cloak, and even white boots. But her belt around her remained the same color._

_"Fathers protect you!" Raven shouted again, making white power flow through the darkened air towards her abusive father. "Fathers raise you!" By now, Trigon had got on the ground, held his head, screaming, on his knees. White rings of power went around him, disappearing and reappearing in a rhythm._

_"I was protected by the monks of Azarath. I was raised by my friends!" Raven's angry rage soared through the air, weakening Trigon. The team had gathered on either side of her._

_"They are my family." Raven began again. "This is my home. And you are not welcome here!" She felt her own power that she gave to her friends drain from them, coming back to her. Flying upwards, she shouted the most used words in all of her life. "Azarath Mentrion Zinthos!" A huge, white raven appeared from behind her, bigger than Trigon himself. He faded away under the strong power of the white raven. A circle of white, with black streaks and blue electric power surged through the city, returned everything to normal. A single star-looking glare was in the sky. It was Raven. She calmly flew down, every part of Trigon that had been within her, gone._

_"Raven, that was..." Starfire trailed off in amazement._

_"Unbelievable." Cyborg finished for her. Raven, smiling, finally spoke up._

_"No, it wasn't." She turned and saw Robin. Running over to him, she hugged him tight and didn't let go. "Somebody believed." Robin was taken aback at Raven's sudden hug, but he smiled, put his hand on her back, and replied after a moment._

_"Welcome back." He said._

_"Ok, you're freakin' me out here!" Beast Boy waved his arms in the air. Raven and Robin let go of each other, facing Beast Boy. The rest of the team did, too. "The white robe and smile are weird enough, but... Hugs? Are you still... You?" He asked._

_Raven replied calmly with a smile. "Blue is still my favorite color. And don't get used to this smile," She frowned. "Cause you're still not funny." Beast Boy and Raven stood there for a moment, staring at each other. Then, faster than light, Beast Boy flew over to her with a single jump._

_"Raven!" Beast Boy hugged her. Raven frowned even more._

_"Quit it!" She said. Everyone else smiled._

_Later, at the tower, Cyborg was at the kitchen, with Beast Boy and Starfire on the sofa. Robin was staring at the window._

_"Alright, y'all, four-eyes is history, his Ghoulies are gone, and we just saved the whole dang universe!" Cyborg screamed. "Who wants French toast?"_

_"Oh, yes! Me please!" Starfire waved her hand in the air as she came up with Beast Boy. "I shall consume them with gravy and the butter of peanuts!"_

_"And I've got just enough tofu bacon for everybody who wants some!" Beast Boy held up a plate with tofu bacon._

_Cyborg looked at him. "So, just enough for you?"_

_Beast Boy nodded. "Exactly!" Starfire reached over and grabbed some bacon, positioning it on top of her head._

_"Observe! I am a rofien zobgar!" Starfire giggled. Cyborg and Beast Boy looked at her like she lost her mind. Starfire stopped laughing and stared at them._

_"On my planet, this is hilarious." Starfire said. Beast Boy and Cyborg glanced at each other, and then started laughing. Starfire smiled, and then made monster noises._

_Raven came up to Robin after changing her outfit back to blue. "Slade got away?" She asked._

_Robin nodded. "If he ever shows his face again, we'll be ready."_

_"How do you do it Robin?" Raven asked him after a few moments._

_"Do what?"_

_"Keep hoping." Raven answered. "After everything that happened. Everything I did... How did you still manage to hope it could all work out?"_

_"Because of you." Robin turned to Raven. "You don't realize it, Raven, but you're actually the most hopeful person I've ever met. From the day you were born, they said you were evil._ _That you were created to do unspeakable things. But you wished for more. You dared to hope that you could be a hero."_

_"I thought it was all over, and now, suddenly..." Raven trailed off._

_"You have your whole life ahead of you. You can decide your own destiny." Robin explained. Raven smiled._

_"I guess, in the end, there really is no end. Just new beginnings." She turned to her laughing friends and smiled. "So what's the deal? Are we having a party in here, or not?"_


	2. Broken Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every chapter is probably super OOC. Sorry

Chapter 1:

Broken Dreams

The tower was pitch black. A sliding door slid to the side, and a shadowlike figure came in. Then, the door shut, but before it did, a dark blue cloak was right in front of the door. The moon shown outside, but gray clouds covered it. _I'm sorry..._ The shadow didn't seem like a shadow any longer. The dark figure went to a bed, and sat down. _Please forgive me..._ Another figure came in the room.

   "Friend Raven," the other figure said. "I believe that you ha- What is the matter?" The other figure asked. She was skinny, with a skirt, boots, small hand gloves, a top, and something around her neck. She wore a sleeve looking thing on her top right arm.

     "Wha- Oh, uh, n-nothing, Starfire." The dark figure answered. "Just, umm, meditating..."

     "Raven, you are my best friend. Please, tell me what is wrong." Starfire said, wanting to know what happened to make Raven so upset.

       "Alright," Raven finally answered after hesitation. "It's.. It’s about my dad... You know, Trigon?"

       "Yes." Starfire answered. "What about the _him_? He is gone now, Raven. He will no longer harm you."

       "Well, I know, Star, but..." Raven faltered. She didn't know how to put it. Especially towards one of her best friends.

       "I just, feel bad about everything." Raven confessed. "I caused the 'end of the world'. I'm the one who was destined to do it. I can't help but feel guilty about everything."

         "But-" Starfire tried to interrupt.

         Raven put her hood down.

         "Star, I know you're trying to make me feel better. And I know you want me to be happy again. But I... I just can't...” Raven said quietly. Raven looked up to Starfire once more and asked, "Who sent you?"

       "Hmm?" Starfire looked confused.

       "Who sent you to talk to me?"

       "No one."

       "So, Cyborg didn't? Not Robin? Or even Beast Boy...?" Raven tried desperately to use the Titans for a small excuse. It didn't work.

     "Raven, let us go talk to Robin, perhaps?" Starfire requested.

     "Alright," Raven answered, minutes after Starfire's question was asked. "Let's go."

 

               "Did you try talking to her about it, Star?" Robin was asking. Starfire and Robin were in the kitchen, talking.

               "I have tried everything, friend Robin. I do not know what is wrong. Well, I know what I told you already." said Starfire

               "We'll have to all think of a plan to talk to her. Star, find Beast Boy. I'll get Cy." Robin explained.

               Soon, they all got together in the living room, where they talked about how to snap Raven out of it. Hopefully, they all thought, they would be able to tell Raven that it was not her fault. If she never did it, Trigon would still be haunting her dreams, meditation, powers, and Slade would be after her, too.

         "Alright team, Starfire suggested we lead her out of the room so we can talk. If we can-" Robin’s conclusion was cut short when Cyborg said:

         "I don't think that's gonna work, Star. Raven can teleport, remember? She can just go away for a second then reappear out of the floor, roof, anything!"

               "You are correct, Cyborg. Robin, what about you? Any other ideas?" Starfire asked.

               "I think we should wait until trouble comes. Then during a fighting session with Mad Mod, or... some other loser, we can pull Raven aside so we can talk. Cy? BB? Any ideas? That are not about jokes?" Robin added as Beast Boy smiled a joke-like smile.

             "I don't know, man. I think we should just let time pass." Cyborg answered.

             "Cy, she's been blaming herself for weeks now. I don't really think time will go fast for her, or for us." Beast boy said, disappointed.

             "There has to be another way." Robin said. "There has to..." Robin's voice drifted away as he left the room. He went to Raven's door and knocked.

               "Raven? Hello? Are you in there?" He called out. No answer. He opened the door, only to find that Raven was not inside. Suddenly he noticed that her room was a mess. "What happened...?" Robin was deep in thought now. He looked towards the window and gasped. The window was wide open! Something broke it, he realized, as the towers windows had to be pulled a certain way for them to open. Only the Titans knew that.

             Quickly he ran to find the nearest alarm for the tower. As he pressed the button for the alarm, the Titans came to him at once. Robin explained the things he saw in Raven's room and Cyborg, running swiftly, got to his car with Beast Boy in it. Robin got his motorcycle and flew off to catch up with Cyborg. Starfire flew in the sky like she never did before. Each member’s heads were deep on thought, wondering what had happened. Then, Robin remembered. Slade! Was he still there, somewhere, waiting to take the Titans one by one, starting with the girl who had Trigon as a father which Slade had helped?

             "Titans, what if Slade is after her again?" Robin asked through a screen on his motorcycle.

             "Oh, we are bad friends. We should have checked to see if Raven was alright sooner, or keep the eye on her." Starfire said. Suddenly, a voice went on everyone's communicator.

           "Well, well, Titans. I see you're looking for your friend, aren't you now?" A voice called. It was Slade.

           "You _will_ give her back!" Starfire screamed at him. They each discovered the location they were both at, and took no time to zoom there. They all found both of them at Slade's underground place, where he normally is. They looked over to their right, only to find Raven, who was hanging from her hood on a piece of broken rail.

           "No..." Robin whispered as the others gasped.

           "Yes." Slade said. "If you can actually beat me for once, you can have your friend back. If not, she shall be my new apprentice."

           "No!" Robin screamed. He knew what happened when he was Slade's apprentice. Everyone doubted him after that, so he definitely didn't want Raven to do that as well, especially so soon after Raven had to complete her destiny. They quickly went after Slade.

           Cyborg blew his sonic cannon at Slade. Starfire shot him with starbolts and left him with a dented suit by the lasers in her eyes. Robin threw his boomerangs at Slade's face. Beast Boy transformed into the biggest animal he could and knocked Slade down hard.

           Suddenly there was a small movement from the place Raven was at. The Titans were too busy fighting off Slade to notice this mysterious movement. Raven woke up with a gasp. She saw the Titans fighting Slade, and losing. Raven flew up quickly, despite ripping part of her cloak, put her hood on, and battled with the Titans. She zoomed into the battle and put a force field around her and the Titans. They were all surprised at Raven's sudden appearance. Raven soon finished off Slade. The rest of the Titans were shocked. As Raven came down from flying, she had her eyes closed, but her face showed victory. She had no smile, though. She hardly ever did. She suppressed a small sigh, fell on her knees, and finally landed on the floor with a hard hit. Raven opened her eyes slightly, only to see her friends crowding around her.

   "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have helped you... fight Slade..." Raven said. Slowly her eyes fell shut, released a small sigh, and the last thing she heard was Starfire screaming, "Raven!"


	3. The Reasons, The Secrets, The Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> cringeeeeeeeeeee

Chapter 2:

The Reasons, The Secrets, The Love    

             Raven slowly opened her eyes until light pierced through. "Uhh... Huh..?" She murmured. She glanced sideways only to see that the rest of the Titans had put her in the medical room. They knew that Raven was already hurt enough even before she joined in the battle with Slade. After that, using her power so much, she had passed out. The Titans were still discussing things quietly; when they noticed Raven woke, they rushed around her instantly.

             "Oh, friend Raven, you are alive!" Starfire screeched. She hugged her friend tight.

             "Ugh! S-St-Starf-fire, y-you c-c-can let me g-g-go no-now!" Raven tried to say. Starfire was really hugging her. Then, of course, she had a right to hug Raven, because everyone feared she would never get up after Slade.

           "Oh. Hehe..." Starfire looked embarrassed. She quickly released her friend so she could breathe.

           "Raven, are you ok now?" Robin asked. He had a very worried look on his face.

         "I...I... umm... erm, sure?" Raven didn't want to talk about her secret. _But I can't hide it any longer,_ she fretted.

         "Raven, tell us." Cyborg said. Raven sighed. She would be forced to do so later on if she didn't right now.

         "Alright, I'll tell you." Raven said after a sigh. "But I bet you guys already know, don't you?" Raven asked. They all shook their heads no. Raven continued, lying about her secret. Though of course, this had happened, but she never did say her secret. Or did she? "When Starfire left my room, I didn't follow, even though she wanted me to." She glanced at Starfire, who looked upset at the whole thing. Raven continued without saying a word to Starfire about it. "I...I just sat on my bed. The next thing I knew, one of Slade's minions came breaking through the window"

         "So that's why the window was broken." Robin said, half to himself.

         "They had the laser, like normal, and shot me with it. Then more came just before I blacked out. They all took me and jumped out the window. The next thing I remembered was you fighting Slade, and I knew I had to help.." Raven explained. "So I..I ripped part of my cloak flying off with the last bit of energy I had. And.. and when I finished off Slade, I felt my power.. my magic.. my energy.. fade away from my body, and then I blacked out again. I don't remember anything else, except for waking up in here." Raven finished.

         "Well, Rae Rae, we're just glad you're alright!" Beast Boy said. Suddenly Raven whispered her secret.

         “Tr-Trigon’s back” Raven whispered, half to herself. To her dismay, her friends heard her.

       "What?" They all exclaimed.

       "How?" Robin asked. "How can he be back? I thought you took care of him, Raven."

       "I..I might of.. did something with my powers?" Raven faltered. Trigon really was back, but she didn't know how to say it to her friends. _Ok, Raven. Just say it. Just do it. But they might go crazy again and lock me up inside that one thing they built for me, when Trigon first came. No. Just say it to them! Get it over with already! If they have to do the same things they did last time, let them. They worry about me as if I was part of their family._ _I treat them as if they were part of my family... Fine, I will tell them._

         "Trigon is coming. And the way he gets here, is through me." Raven said the same words she said before. "I'm not just a person, I'm-"

           "A portal" All the Titans said together. Raven looked surprised.

         "You said this last time." Beast Boy commented. "Don't you remember?"

       "Well, yeah, but-"

         "BB's right, Rave. Besides, we don't know for sure if he really is back, and we also don't know if Slade's after you again." Cyborg said. Maybe we can be... better friends.. this time." Cyborg finished. The Titans all knew that Raven had many secrets. She also didn't like putting her friends in danger. But the one thing she never hid was that Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire were her best friends. Even Beast Boy was nice to her, no matter how annoying he could get. _He is kind of cute.._ Raven thought to herself. "Well..." Raven began.

           Suddenly Slade's minions crashed through all areas that could be opened. The Titans immediately guarded around Raven, knowing Slade wanted her- or at least, that's what they thought. But the Titans were outnumbered, but, of course, when did that ever stop them? Raven looked around, wondering what to do. _If I help, then I might get hurt again, and my friends would worry. Especially Starfire,_ Raven thought. _But if I don't help them, they might get weakened, and lose!_ Raven thought desperately and finally decided. _I will fight. I_ have _too! I'm a Teen Titan, not a coward who just has a few injuries hiding in a corner of a dark room! Raven, stand up. Stand up, and fight!_

           As soon as the minions made a single move, the Titans attacked, harder than they ever did before. _And it's all because of me, right?_ Raven thought. Robin got kicked backwards, while a minion threw Starfire on the other side of the room. Cyborg tried to fight, but he was thrown across the room, too. Beast Boy turned into a poisonous spider and bit them all; it still wasn't enough. Robin glanced over at Raven when he got up. She looked as if she passed out again, and Robin tried to push the minions out of the way. Suddenly, Raven jumped up and started using her powers again. Her move was a _trick._ The Titans glanced at one another, then shot right into battle. Not just to win, but to help Raven and try to defend her.

           "Star, watch Raven and help her! Cy, BB and I will take care of-" He grunted and, as he spoke, he said the last word with clenched teeth. "-these!"

         Starfire nodded quickly, and zoomed beside Raven. _I heard Robin tell her to help me,_ Raven thought while fighting. _But I'm not desperate!_ She glanced at Starfire, only to find out she had disappeared. _No! Where are you, Star?_ Raven wondered. Then, she saw Starfire at the edge of the room, her eyes lit up, and her starbolts ready to shoot. Raven put a small force field over her and the Titans, but not Starfire.

       "Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, over there!" She pointed to Starfire. "I know what's going on. We need to get down. _Now_."

       "But Rav-" Beast boy tried to reply

       Raven could feel the laser attacking the force fields, let alone her. While she supplied safety and time for the Titans, she was growing weaker. With the last bit of power energy she had, she grunted and made the force fields stronger.

       "Raven, stop! What are you doing? You're gonna get hurt again. Don't worry about us! We'll be fine." Robin exclaimed.

         Raven forced the words out as she found it hard to argue with her best friends and grow weaker at the same time. "Ugh, Just. trust. me!" She was suddenly transported back to her mind, where she, Cyborg, and Beast Boy had seen Trigon for the first time. It was when Raven was saying, _"This is my problem. I'll deal with it. If I lose you'll be stuck in here forever!"_ _Nevermore all over again._ Raven complained. "Star...fire..." Raven started. "Now!" She didn't think she could hold the force fields any longer, with the lasers blasting them like that.

         Starfire saw Raven go to her knees, and she knew she had to do this now. She made a huge green ball, shot it at the minions, and defeated them. Finally, Raven let go of the force fields, and stumbled to the ground. She tried to get up, but her hands failed her. Quickly, she rolled on her back, and said, "It's alright, guys! I-I'm fine!" Raven said.

       Robin still looked uncertain, then said, "Raven, next time, _please_ don't help. You’re hurt enough as it is. Stop worrying about us and help yourself."

       Raven looked offended and upset. "Look, you guys are my best friends, and you're...you're family to me... You guys can lock me up away from Slade, but that won't stop me from helping this time. I'm not afraid this time, Robin. You know that better than anyone. But.. I... Just.. Just forget it.." Raven said. She got up from the floor, hurt and aching all over. She walked away from the room, slowly though, because of the fight, and her weaknesses.

 

       Later that day, Beast Boy came to Raven's door, knocked, and started to speak. "Hey, umm, Rav? Sorry about earlier, but I.. I just wanted to say that.. umm.. Whenever you're upset, just talk to me. Look, Raven, I know you don't like my jokes, but I.. I kind of... like you.." Beast Boy finished.

       Raven was very surprised. She liked Beast Boy, too, but the other Titans mustn't know. "Beast Boy? I liked you for a while now and.. well... we both like each other so.. do you.." Raven couldn't say it.

       "Want to go on a date?" Beast Boy finished for her. Raven was stunned.

       "Y-Yes, I'd like that, actually.." Raven replied. _I can't believe it. Beast Boy and I, together! Thank you, Beast Boy...._


	4. Love, Date, Fright

Chapter 3: Love, Date, Fright

       "Ok, Raven. What's your favorite place to visit?" Beast Boy had asked. They were in the middle of the city, holding each other's arm.

       Raven spent no time thinking. "Haunted houses." She answered simply.

       “Great, cause I think that-“ Beast Boy’s reply was cut off short as they started blinking red from their communicators.

       “Titans, do you read me?” Robin was saying. They both replied yes. “Tower, now!” He screamed. Beast Boy let out a small gasp as the communicator went black.

       “Come on, Raven! We gotta get back!” Beast Boy was yelling. Without a word, Raven grabbed his arms and teleported to the tower. Only to Raven’s horror they were battling Slade. Robin and Starfire moved protectively in front of Raven. Beast Boy and Cyborg just behind her. Of course, despite the things that the Titans had done for Raven so far, as in her using the rest of her energy and power to save them, she looked ready to fight. _If I even have to go through some serious pain or something like that for my friends, I will!_ Raven thought.

       As soon as Slade made a fist at Robin, they all attacked. But Slade saw this coming. He quickly zoomed out of the way and Robin hit the ground. The others were still around Raven trying to guard her. Raven was standing inside the circle they made and had her powers ready. If Slade harmed her friends...

               "Go!" Raven heard Robin yell. All the Titans fought Slade this time. Of course, they still worried about Raven. Thoughts flooded into the Titans' minds as Raven fought. What if her powers failed her? What if Slade got her when they couldn't fight him or help Raven? And if she got hurt or the Titans got hurt, she would even die to defend and help them. Robin dented part of Slade's suit with his staff. In that same moment, Slade punched Robin in the stomach. Robin fell down on the floor, holding his stomach in pain, his eyes wide. Starfire stared for a moment then her eyes lit up green. She quickly shot Slade with her laser eyes and starbolts. Beast Boy turned into the biggest animal that could fit in the tower. Those amazing powers failed.

           Suddenly Cyborg flew up his sonic cannon and blueish-white power surged at Slade. Even Raven, who the Titans tried so hard to protect, hit him with everything she had. It still wasn't enough. Robin was looking at him like he was invincible. His first thought? Slade had reunited with Raven's father, Trigon, and got powers from him again so Raven could make her father come straight back to Earth to destroy it. But no. Slade was staring at Robin, understanding what he was thinking.

           "Robin, you want to know about that kid's father, don't you?" He glanced at Raven as he said 'kid'. "Well, I'm not with him. Not anymore. Trigon is dead." Everyone gasped and looked at Raven; even Slade looked at her with admiration in his eye.

           "I...I thought I felt Trigon...” Raven was saying. "Either way, all I want is to protect you guys...”

           "Either way, you lied to us." Beast Boy said bitterly. Raven looked inwardly upset, but as always, kept her emotions clear as the daytime sky.

           "I didn't lie, Beast Boy! I thought he was coming back. But-" Raven broke off to a sudden thought. "Either he is truly dead, or Slade's lying." She said. Slade, for once, looked utterly surprised.

         "Trigon is dead. Raven, you killed him when you sent him out of Earth, or did you just make him up inside your mind again?" Slade teased. Anger flared through Raven. _He is not lying... although I did truly feel Trigon..._ Raven thought.

         "He...he's not lying. But I did sense Trigon when I told you guys." Raven explained, still holding her position with her powers and her angry, flaring eyes fixed on Slade. At once, Slade jumped back; his eye darting from one Titan to another, just daring them to come closer. _I wish that Slade didn't catch me the first time._ Raven was thinking. _Then I'd be able to attack him now, without everyone worrying._

         Suddenly, Beast Boy flung out towards Slade and turned into a bear, which was surprising considering that he had argued with her just minutes ago about lying to them about Trigon. Instantly they all joined in. They shortly defeated him. It wasn't easy, but at least they did it. Just then, Slade went black and white. The Titans looked surprised until they saw Raven teleporting his body back to his lair. They were all out of breath, but Raven was panting like she ran across the world. Her eyes were more closed than usual; even more paler skin than usual.

           Just then, Starfire barely touched her to see if she's alright, and Raven jumped sky high and with eyes as big and bright as the moon.

           "Raven?" Starfire said, nervous for her friend.

           She let a small sigh. "S-sorry Star. You popped up on me, that's all." Raven answered.

           "Come on guys. Raven needs a rest. We all do." Robin said. He put his arms out and tried to lightly push them to their rooms. Raven had a very hard time sleeping that night. Dreams that Slade would come back with his minions haunted her dreams all night. By two in the morning, Raven couldn't stand it. She put on her cloak and went by her window to meditate.

             Suddenly she heard a noise outside. She jumped high again, and ran to the edge of her window to look out. Nothing was there. _J-just the wind,_ she convinced herself. She started meditating again, and heard another noise, but outside her door. Slowly she opened it. To her surprise, it was her best friend, Starfire. To her even greater surprise, she looked exhausted. Her eyes were baggy and barely looked clear and cheerful like she always was.

         "S-Starfire?" Raven said. "What are you doing?"

         "I...I heard you in your room. Raven, what is wrong?" Starfire said.

         "It’s just... Slade. My dreams are being haunted by him and his minions attacking the tower at night. Starfire, do you think he'll come back?" Raven asked.

       "Most likely." She replied.

       "But what if he attacks you, or Robin..."

     "Raven, he will not hurt any of our team any longer."

      "I know but-"

     "Raven, please try and go to the sleep. Everything will feel better in the morning." Starfire concluded.

             "A-alright... Goodnight, Star." Raven said. They both walked away; Raven walked into her room and the door shut. As she went to her bed, she felt drowsy. As soon as she got her covers on top of her, she fell asleep. _Everything will feel better in the morning;_ she kept Starfire's words in her mind until sleep took over at last.

 


	5. Shadows

Chapter 4: Shadows

       Raven woke up with a start. She had heard a knocking at her door. Glancing at a small clock in her room, it was six A.M. Quickly, she put on her cloak. Who was knocking? Robin? Starfire? Beast Boy? Cyborg? Then she opened the door.

       "Robin? I-is something wrong" Raven had said. Robin was standing there, looking unsatisfied.

       "Uhmm, Raven? Starfire told me you were up late last night. Everything ok? Nothing you wanna talk about?" Robin said.

       "No, I'm fine." Raven replied, careful not to stutter.

       "Raven." Robin said in a serious tone. Raven sighed. "There has to be something that kept you up. Did Slade come back?"

     "No, you would have heard it, right?" Raven asked. Suddenly Robin's paranoid face turned serious, although he only gave her a slight nod to keep going. "Well, last night, the only reason I had trouble sleeping was because of Slade." Robin had no time to say something as Raven kept going, feeling a twinge of guilt as she didn't let her friend speak. "In my dream, Slade said he was going to bring his minions and attack the tower soon." Raven finished. "Then I woke up."

     "When is this attack?" Robin asked.

     "I-I-I don't know." Raven replied. "But I've got this weird feeling that he's coming tonight. Just...be ready." Raven told Robin.

     "If that's all...." Robin said, backing out.

     "I'll, uhh, see you around." Raven said awkwardly. Robin looked slightly confused, then nodded, as if understanding. He walked down the hallway as Raven watched. Then she shut her door and stayed in her room for a while. When she laid down on her bed for a few moments, she remembered the first time they all met. Robin told her the parts that she never saw, but sometimes she interrupted saying she was in the shadows, watching. Suddenly, she began to daydream about it.

       Robin was catching a criminal, and saw a bright green explosion near the Pizza Place. Robin went to investigate, and the alien ended up fighting him. Turns out, the alien was Raven's best friend, Starfire. They fought until Raven heard the commotion, and slipped into the shadows to look. She didn't want to interfere, not yet. She knew she could help. Raven _would_ help. But not yet. Right before Starfire hit Robin with the hard, metal things attached to her arms, Beast Boy jumped in as a goat and knocked her aside. After a brief fight, Cyborg showed up. Just minutes later, Raven showed up right when they were about to fight again. She ended up winning trust over them all, by one sentence: _"Maybe... fighting isn't the answer."_

       From then on, they had all been best friends, better known as the Teen Titans. But villains, including Slade, Trigon, Mumbo, and many others were interfering with their lives. Of course, their purpose was to fight evil, not avoid it.

       "Raven?" A voice mumbled outside her door. Raven stopped daydreaming and went to her door. She quickly put her hood up as the door opened.

       "What's wrong, Star?" Raven asked her best friend. Suddenly, before Starfire could speak, red flashed all around the tower. "Trouble!" Starfire yelled, half to herself, Raven guessed. Quickly they found the others in the living room. Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy were at the computers trying to find the villain who caused trouble again. Just then, a picture popped up on the screen, which was half screen half window.

       "Slade." Robin said, making a disgusted face at the picture. He turned abruptly and said the famous words everyone should know. "Titans, go!" Quickly they ran out the door, and Cyborg got his car ready. Robin got his motorcycle, and of course, Starfire and Raven just flew up ahead. Beast Boy jumped into the car with Cyborg. Soon, they found Slade at his lair. He was eyeing Raven, like he was up to something. Unlucky for Slade, the Titans saw him glaring at her at once, and gathered around her.

       "Guys, you don't need to-" Raven's protest was cut off short.

       "Raven, we're not gonna let them take you again. Remember last time?" Cyborg interrupted. Raven closed her eyes for a moment, and then opened them again but this time, with more... more _love_ for the Titans than she ever did. Raven suddenly remembered the words she had kept in her mind. _If I have to get hurt for my friends, I will!_ Over and over she replayed those words in her mind, until Slade made a single move. Unfortunately for the Titans, Slade had made a plan. He punched the ground so hard, it created a hole down to a sewer. The three boys, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Robin all fell. Raven and Starfire gasped in horror. _Now what?_ Raven asked herself. No matter how much they needed the others right now, she would try to protect her best friend, Starfire.

         But Starfire had other ideas. She pushed herself in front of Raven with her eyes lit green and starbolts ready to shoot. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Slade's minions popped all around them. Not knowing what to do, Raven looked around in horror and fear, but she did not disband Starfire. Together they could defeat Slade. Or could they? _It was hard enough for all of us to do it,_ Raven thought. _How are we?_ She had her doubts, but she fought as strong and fast as Starfire did. Just then a small grunt came from where Starfire and Slade were battling, while Raven tried to make the minions back off. She turned around to see Starfire on the floor, with Slade looking satisfied.

         _"No!"_ Raven screamed. Quickly she pushed Slade back and he stumbled on the ground. Raven hurried to pick up Starfire and flew as fast as she could back to the tower. When Raven finally landed at the tower entrance, she put Starfire's arm around her, so it would be easier to help. Fortunately for her, the Titans got washed up to the tower, and were sitting inside, trying to gather strength. Raven walked in, looking defeated.

       "P-please," Raven began, hints of tears as she spoke. Her voice was shaky, and her whole body quivered. "Help her...." Raven gazed over at Starfire's face, terrified. Robin jumped up and ran to her, despite his hurt foot, which seemed almost broken.

       "What....what happened?" Robin asked Raven.

       "We… we were battling S-Slade, and I was trying to make the mi-minions back o-off." Raven explained, trying not to let go of her emotions completely, but to them, this was too big of a deal. "I-I heard a grunt from w-where Slade and S-Starfire were. S-S-She had fallen onto t-the flo-floor, and Slade looked like.... like..." She couldn't say it, though she knew what she wanted to say. _He wanted to kill her..._ Raven thought, sadness growing inside her. "I...I took her back here as fast as I could. I g-guess you kn-know the re-rest." Raven finished sadly.

     "It's... alright, Raven. You... you did your best." Robin said, though he looked a bit annoyed and angry at Raven. _I was trying to protect her! But if I truly were, none of this would have happened..._ Cyborg looked at Raven with sympathy _,_ but Beast Boy had not said a word to her, let alone even look at her. Raven felt sadness overwhelming her. It wasn't her fault! She teleported to her room and went to her bed. Carefully she took off her cloak, which was ripped up because of the battle with Slade, and put it in the closet. She put her blankets around her and fell asleep.

 _Please, Starfire, get better. Wake up. Please._ She said those words in her dark, mysterious mind over and over until finally, everything went black.


	6. Terra

Chapter 5: Terra

           The sun had risen past the ocean the Titans Tower was located. It was seven A.M. Raven was just waking up. Sleepily walking over to grab her cloak, she heard a small scream from the living room. Raven put her hood up and vanished in thin air to the living room in a heartbeat.

         "Who screamed?" Raven said when she appeared in the living room. Everyone was there, Raven realized, except for Starfire. Sadness overwhelmed her again as she remembered what had happened the day before.

       "What? No one screamed." Robin answered. _Starfire!_ Raven thought. It was _Starfire's_ scream. She had imagined it, she realized, because Robin continued.

       "Starfire's still... not up yet." Robin said, looking the same way he did when Raven came inside with her best friend. "She's... in the medical room. Did you need her for something, Raven? Raven..?" Robin asked. But Raven was deep in thought, just staring at him. What if this was her fault? What if Starfire never got up? What if-

   "Raven!" Robin exclaimed. Raven was obviously startled, because she was wide eyed and jumped a bit.

       "W-what? Oh, uh, no. I just thought I heard her scream.." Raven finally answered back.

     "Look, Raven. I know you've been upset since yesterday. And, I'm not treating you like a true friend would... I'm sorry. I..I shouldn't have blamed you." Robin said.

     "I-it's alright... Believe me, if I knew Starfire was in trouble like that, I would have _killed_ _him._ " Raven said angrily, surprised to see Robin's mask-covered eyes widen.

     "I know." Robin said, sighing. Beast boy was glaring at Raven, as if he wanted nothing to do with her, not even help her or talk for a while. _Robin said he's sorry for yesterday, but I doubt that. Beast Boy won't talk to me, Starfire's not even up yet so we can't make sure she's alright. Cyborg, well... he's the only one who hasn't talked to me yet, but..._

   Slowly Raven walked back to her room. _Have my own friends turn their backs on me because I couldn't save Starfire?_ Raven thought. Suddenly she heard a scream- this one was real. _S..Starfire?_ Raven thought. Quickly, she teleported into the medical room, where she found Starfire laying on one of the beds. Starfire was wide-eyed, looking as if something had scared her.

     "Star? What's wrong?" Raven said, desperately trying to help Starfire.

     "S....S-Slade!" Starfire screamed. Raven looked horrified. _Did Slade do something to her?_ She wondered. Then she remembered the last time Starfire had been up. Slade had done something at the battle, and she passed out. She must have just woken up. Starfire was still panting like she ran around the city three times.

     "S-Slade! Where is he? Raven..? Is... is that you?" Starfire mumbled.

     "Star, are you alright?" Raven asked. _Slade must have hurt her badly,_ she realized, _otherwise she wouldn't wake up like this._

"I...I believe so." Starfire mumbled. Suddenly the room shook. Raven fell onto the floor. Starfire rolled off the bed and landed next to Raven. _Earthquake? But how?_ Raven thought. The last time they had an 'earthquake' was... _Slade!_ Raven instantly thought. _I thought Terra caused those 'earthquakes' all those months ago! But it was Slade. Yet Terra... helped..._ Raven tried to get up, but she couldn't. _Is it that bad?_ She thought. She finally made her way to Starfire by crawling carefully toward Starfire. Raven grabbed her arm and tried to fly with her, but something was wrong. _My powers!_ Raven thought in dismay and horror. _An earthquake, my powers. What's going on?_

   Suddenly the ground gave way and both girls fell to the next floor. Finally, they landed in the middle of one of the hallways in the tower. The ground stopped shaking once they landed. Raven barely had enough energy left after that fall, and her powers mysteriously disappearing. Even though she was weak, Raven looked over to Starfire, only to see her eyes wide.

     "R-Raven..? What has happened?" Starfire mumbled. Raven knew Starfire was just begging her for an answer, but they both knew well that they had no idea who or what caused this. _Slade?_ Raven thought. Raven sighed and laid her head down on a broken piece of brick from the medical room floor from when the two girls fell. She started seeing things that weren't there, and her eyesight became a blur. Just moments later, right before she passed out, she heard Starfire saying, "Raven." Starfire gave a small grunt and passed out, like Raven.

     A little while later, the three boys, Beast Boy, Robin, and Cyborg were trying to find Raven and Starfire. Little did they know that they had fallen from the medical room. Cyborg walked down the hallway the girls were passed out at. He gasped and ran to them, picking them both up carefully.

     "Yo Robin! BB!" Cyborg screamed. Robin and Beast Boy ran as fast as they could to Cyborg.

     "What?" Robin said.

   "I found them." Cyborg said, sadness in his voice, and dismay and horror to see the girls like this.

   "Put them both in the medical room. We need to make sure their alright." Robin ordered.

   "Let's hope so." Beast Boy put in. Beast Boy looked the most worried of all of them. He wanted to know what was wrong with Raven; the main reason is because they were secretly dating. But he didn't know why Starfire would be involved.

     Just then, Starfire gasped a small gasp and shouted out the hated name of all the Titans. "Slade!" She screamed.

     "What?" Robin said. But Starfire had fallen unconscious again, so they ran into the medical room only to see it destroyed. Beast Boy instantly felt guiltier that he wasn't there to help or comfort Raven. Cyborg felt guilty because he didn't even talk to Raven as much as the others. But Robin? He only apologized to Raven, nothing more, nothing less.

 

 

     _Where... where am I?_ Raven thought. She opened her eyes, only to see she was in her own mind, laying on a rock. "Oh. Well, nice." She mumbled. Quickly she went through her 'happy place', the maze, and finally, went to the door to get out. She zoomed through the door by flying, and instantly she was back to the real world. Slowly she opened her eyes, only to find herself and her friend, Starfire, laying on the couch in the living room. _Star?_ Raven thought.

     "Good, you're awake." A voice said. _Beast Boy?_ "I hope you're alright. You and Star took a good fall." The voice continued. Raven sat up, rubbing her head.

     "Beast... Boy...?" Raven asked.

     "Yeah." Beast Boy answered.

   "Where's Starfire?"

   "Easy, Rave. She's right next to you." Beast Boy answered. _I must have really hit my head. I just saw Starfire before Beast Boy talked to me._

   "Is she alright?" Raven asked.

   "Yeah." Beast Boy said. "She's alright. Look, Rave, I'm sorry that I basically ignored you and... kind of hated you when you came back with Starfire the other day." Beast Boy apologized. "Remember that time when Thunder and Lighting first came and Starfire got trapped by rocks? Well, what I thought. And I was so scared for her. You don't know my past, but-"

     "Where are you going with this?" Raven asked.

     "I.... I still love you..." Beast Boy said. Just then he became aware that Robin was right behind him, looking surprised.

   "You guys _like_ each other?" Robin said, his mask-eyes wide. Beast Boy didn't know what to say. Raven was embarrassed, her face completely red.

"Uh...?" Was all Raven could say.

"Beast Boy and Raven sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Cyborg teased. Raven grew hot with embarrassment. Suddenly Starfire made a small grunt sound, and everyone turned serious, forgetting about Raven and Beast Boy's 'secret relationship'. But Raven was still flooding with embarrassment. She could see her boyfriend's face blushing red like roses.

   "Robin...?" Starfire murmured. Robin ran over to her quickly, and asked if she was alright. Starfire told the whole story. Everyone except for Raven was horrified and surprised. Raven knew as well as Starfire that it happened to both of them, not just one.

   "We... woke up in here." Starfire finished, glancing at Raven as she said 'we'.

   "It sounds like Slade is targeting more than Raven this time. We better be careful." Robin said. He looked around, suddenly worried. "Any of you could get hurt." He said, sadly.

   "And maybe you." Beast Boy put in.

"If anyone hurts you guys," Cyborg started to say. "I'll take care of them; you can make sure of it, Robin."

   "And me." Beast Boy said.

   "And me." Robin chimed in.

   "And me." Starfire put weakly.

   "And me." Raven blurted out.

   "If Slade is truly back, you're gonna need all the help you can get," Raven commented. "So this time, don't make me hang back. You can trust me, because if Slade's back, I'll _Azarath, Mentrion, snap his freakin' neck."_

 

   Thunder cracked in the sky as heavy rain fell onto the tower's roof. Lightning scorched the dark night and flooded light into the tower. The Titans were all in their own rooms, sleeping peacefully. Starfire woke instantly from a sound outside. Or was it from outside at all?

   "H-hello?" She asked in dead silence. She left her room and made her way to Raven's room. Quietly she knocked, but no one answered. Suddenly there was a gasp from the room. Raven slowly opened her eyes. _Who's knocking...?_ She used her power to levitate her cloak and put it on. Right before the door opened she put her hood on.

   "Starfire?" Raven looked confused as to why Starfire was up at...

   "Three in the morning." Raven said. She rubbed her eye while saying, "What are you doing here?"

   "I heard something. I... I thought I should come to you." Starfire responded. _Ok, they want to protect me, yet their coming to me with their problems or if I can do... something, I guess._ Raven thought.

   "Heard what? Slade?" Raven asked, nervous. If Slade came back....

   "No. Something.... from the tower." Answered Starfire. Suddenly she heard it again, freaked out, and went closer to Raven. Raven moved protectively in front of her friend. The tower gave a small rumble, and just then, Robin burst toward Raven and Starfire, wide-eyed.

   "Star! Raven! Come on; we have to get out of here!" Robin screamed. Raven didn't know why, but she quickly pulled Starfire a bit until she wasn't too worried and they both could fly. Starfire grabbed onto Robin and the three of them flew towards the exit. A thought went into Raven's head, and she immediately stopped flying towards her friends. The ground started shaking even more.

   "Raven?" Starfire called. But Raven was too focused on two of the Titans: Beast Boy and Cyborg.

   "W-we have to go back!" shouted Raven to her two closest friends. "What about the others?" Robin looked frightened.

   "Raven, get Starfire outside, and you guys stay there." Robin ordered.

   "No!" Starfire objected quickly. "Robin, please, they are our friends. We must go help them!"

   "Alright, then come on!" Robin screamed over the shaking, trembling tower. Raven and Starfire flew fast to catch up with Robin. Sure enough, they reached Cyborg's room, where Cyborg and Beast Boy were hiding.

   "Cy! BB!" Robin screamed to them. They popped their heads out from under a small desk. "Raven," Robin nodded to Raven, "Now!"

   Raven used her powers to get Cyborg and Beast Boy out. Horrified, she felt the ground shake, and a big chunk of rock from the ceiling came flying down, almost hitting Beast Boy and Cyborg. Starfire grabbed a hold of Cyborg while he grabbed Robin. Starfire quickly flew, leaving Beast Boy and Raven alone together for the first time since the relationship 'incident' and secret spilled out. But Raven only gave the smallest of smiles to Beast Boy, grabbed his arms, and flew out of the tower. The last thing Raven heard was Cyborg's room crumbling as she vanished in thin air with Beast Boy.

   Raven's power created a portal outside the tower, where the others were. The girl poked her head out and realized Starfire was watching her. She threw Beast Boy out, but she knew the other Titans already knew about their secret.

   "You guys ok?" Robin asked. Beast Boy just nodded, his eyes wide as fright crept in. Raven nodded too, looking just as normal as always, keeping her emotions clear. But Cyborg's face was full of horror. Poor Starfire was huddled next to Robin, shaking enough that he noticed.

   "Star? You alright?" Robin asked, nervous for his friend. Starfire did nothing more than look at him with huge, terrified eyes, and nodded. Robin took it as if she was ok. At least, glad that she wasn't hurt.

   "Raven?" Beast Boy asked her quietly. "You ok?"

   "Uhh, yeah. I'm fine, Beast Boy." Raven took a moment to respond. Beast Boy's eyes clouded with worry. _And fear!_ Raven realized. "Are _you_ ok?" Raven asked Beast Boy. He knew that Raven was worried about him. Beast Boy nodded, gave each other a final loving glance, and Raven flew towards Starfire to check on her and Robin. Beast Boy, of course, went to Cyborg to make sure he was alright.

   "You two ok?" Raven asked her friends.

   "We're fine, Raven." Robin said. Suddenly a big, black and brown blur went past Raven and knocked her down. She grunted and her breath caught in her throat. Wide-eyed, she looked up and saw Slade. But Slade was looking at Robin.

   "Hello, Robin," he started. "Remember me?"

   The Titans were all staring at Slade, horrified. _Great._ Raven thought. But to her surprise, Slade was glaring at Beast Boy. She wondered what Slade would want with him, but when Slade gave a single move, a sign of attacking, Robin screamed out, "Titans, go!" Robin swiped his staff to hit Slade's face. Beast Boy and Raven stayed by each other, each of them caring for either's safety.

   "Raven, look out!" Robin screamed. But Raven was prepared. She dodged Slade's kick, and shoved a big ball of black and white demotic magic in his face instead, knocking Slade down on his back. Beast Boy saw this as a chance to attack. He turned into a T-rex and stomped on Slade. But Slade zoomed out just at the right moment, leaving Beast Boy's foot hitting nothing but a small patch of grass. Suddenly Beast Boy transformed to a tiger and tried to attack their enemy again. Slade didn't see this coming, but he attacked anyway. Slade shoved the little green boy so hard that he was lying on the ground, unmoving.

   "Beast Boy!" Raven whispered. She looked angrily at Slade. She quickly threw him up against a rock and screamed in his face, "Don't. Touch. Him. Again." Slade's one good eye was huge. Raven's eyes turned white as she threw Slade almost into the water with her powers. Starfire flew over to Raven. Raven's eyes returned to her normal eyes and not white.

   "Rav-" Starfire's concerning saying was cut short when Beast Boy moved. Everyone went over to him. While they checked up on the animal-changing teenager, Slade had gotten up. Before they knew it, minions surrounded the Titans. Immediately Raven guarded Beast Boy. Starfire went beside Raven, while Robin took the other. Cyborg went behind Raven and got his sonic cannon ready.

   "So, we kick butt?" Cyborg asked.

   "Yep." Robin answered.

   "Heh. Just like old times!" The metal boy commented.

   "Except even harder." Raven burst into the conversation, making her eyes flare up with anger. She prepared to fight Slade and his minions. Before anyone could react or move to anything, rocks flew overhead, knocking down all Slade's minions. Destroying them. Slade fell hard onto his back. With wide-eyes, the Titans looked up to see this mysterious object. It wasn't an object, but yet a person. Everyone gasped in shock as the newcomer came down from the sky on a small rock.

   It was Terra.


	7. Blind

Chapter 6: Blind

   "How is this possible?" Robin commented. Slade instantly saw Terra and Raven felt him making revengeful thoughts in his dark head. Nervous from when they last saw Terra, Raven was ready to attack, although she showed no sign of fighting yet.

   "How can we trust her?" Robin whispered to Raven. She guessed he whispered to her first because they were the only ones who didn't trust Terra the first time she came. The others did.

   "Big mistake." A new voice said. Raven looked over and saw Terra right there in their faces. She was wearing Slade's uniform he gave her.

   "Wha-" Robin looked surprised. "Ahh!" He grunted when Terra smashed him in the face.

"Robin!" Starfire screamed. Beast Boy looked surprised.

"Terra?" He asked. Terra whipped around to face him.

   "Beast Boy, I know what you're about to say. Don't even bother. I'm not friends with you guys. I don't _need_ you either! Leave me alone!" Terra screamed as she picked up the green guy and threw him across the small island where the tower was.

   "That's my girl." Slade said. "Destroy them again, but make sure they don't ever come back." Unlucky for Slade and Terra, Raven heard and watched everything. As she did, anger flared inside her like never before, even when Trigon was controlling part of her for the moment. Raven knocked Terra down with her powers, and straight into Slade. Terra quickly made the small island move with her powers, until it was turned just enough for all the Titans and fall into the ocean. They all screamed as they plunged down into darkness.

     Robin and Starfire hung onto each other as they floated farther down. Cyborg and Raven snapped their arms together, trying to hold on as the water current swiped them down farther and farther. As the others lost their strength and were too weak to move, Raven's eyes flew open, despite the freezing water that stung them. _Beast Boy!_ She thought. Where was he? She swung her head around all directions, until finally, she lost her senses and everything went black.

   Suddenly, Raven's arm hit something, and she regained some senses. Slowly she opened her eyes, only to find an unconscious Beast Boy. Raven, still holding on to Cyborg's arm, reached out for Beast Boy's. Before she knew it, the water turned colder, an icy chill gripped them all. Raven glanced over to Robin and Starfire, and they fell on some kind of icy slide after going into a whirlpool-looking thing. So did she, along with her boyfriend and the metal man. But they all fell unconscious.

 

   Raven let out a gasping breath, along with the other Titans. She looked around, only to find herself and her friends surrounded by waves of snow. Blizzards moving in. Heavy snow about to come. _We're in the middle of a snowstorm. Great..._

   "Raven?" A voice called. Raven turned her head around and saw Beast Boy. "You ok?"

   Getting up, she looked at him and said, "Yeah. I'm fine, Beast Boy. But... where are we?" Raven replied. A big gust of wind came and knocked everyone down.

   "Can anyone block out the snow and wind?" Robin asked. "I just want you all to be alright." He added awkwardly.

   "Azarath Mentrion Zinthos!" Raven chanted as her eyes lit white. Suddenly a big force field of demotic energy went around them. Starfire lit the place up with her green starbolts.

"Everyone ok now?" Raven asked. Her eyes flew open as she felt something attacking her force field.

   "Ahh!" Raven grunted as she fell. Her force field was falling apart slowly. Raven looked up and saw Terra smashing rocks and ice into the force field.

   "Think you were getting away that easy, huh?" Terra smirked. Suddenly the ice started cracking. Even Terra looked surprised.

   "Ok, maybe I went overboard." Terra said. "Ahh!" She screamed as she fell. The other Titans fell too, but hung onto different rocks on the side. Terra plunged deeper into the darkness until her scream was nothing more than a distant memory. Raven looked over to Starfire, where she was trying to fly, but couldn't. Beast Boy tried to turn into a bird but failed. Cyborg, looking nervous, tried to turn his arm into his sonic cannon. It didn't work. Robin and Raven's eyes were huge as they found out everyone's powers were not working again. Raven also trying to levitate them all, but she couldn't even feel her powers, even when she chanted her usual spell.

   "Huh." Robin grunted as he tried to climb the icy rocks. His hand slipped and Starfire freaked out.

   "Robin!" Starfire screamed. She tried to fly over to him, but yet again, it didn't work. Instead she jumped unsteadily. Crashing into each other, Robin and Starfire both fell into the darkness, screaming.

   "Starfire! Robin!" Raven screamed. _No!_

   "Come on! There's no point in us staying here until these ice cliffs break off!" Cyborg said. He jumped down and soon the darkness swallowed him up. Only Beast Boy and Raven remained. Raven was frozen in shock as she looked down at the shadows that ate up her friends. Suddenly she felt the ice start to break off the side of the wall that surrounded her and Beast Boy. One of her arms slipped off, and she came up with an idea, although she didn't know how Beast Boy would like it.

   "Beast Boy!" Raven yelled out to him. They were close to each other, but with the rumble of the ice she had to yell. Beast Boy was hanging on to the ice.

   When he heard Raven calling, he turned his head to her and, confused, yelled out, "Raven?"

"Grab my arm." Raven replied.

"But Ra-"

"Do it!" She said. "Trust me." Raven added.

"I trust you with my life, Raven!" Beast Boy yelled back. Raven put her arm out towards Beast Boy. He grabbed her arm, but Raven's other arm slipped.

   "Ah!" Raven gasped. Dangling over the edge of a darkened shadow, Beast Boy was forced to hold onto her.

   "Don't worry! I'm not gonna let you go!" Beast Boy yelled as if he could read Raven's mind. Suddenly he looked up at his arm, wide-eyed and terrified as it slipped. Raven and Beast Boy had their eyes wide, plunging down to forever-lived darkness wordlessly.

"Raven, if we don't make it," Beast Boy started. "I just wanna say that I love you!" Raven's face got red a little, then, as they fell, she hugged him. Beast Boy seemed surprised at first, then grabbed her and hugged her for as long and hard as he could. Raven and Beast Boy hit the ground, but not as hard as they expected. Still hugging Beast Boy, Raven looked around to find Cyborg holding her and her boyfriend. Raven's face was completely red. Beast Boy jumped off of her and hit the real floor hard. Cyborg put Raven down carefully.

"You ok, Rave?" Cyborg asked.

"Uhh...." Was all Raven could say. Even though the others knew Raven and Beast Boy were dating, she was still embarrassed about the whole thing.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Raven replied. "Where are Robin and Starfire?"

"Right over there." Cyborg pointed to a small cave where Robin and Starfire were. Raven ran over to them.

"You guys alright?" She asked them.

"I... think so." Robin replied and Starfire shook her head yes. They had made a small fire in the cave, and tried their best to keep it alive, but it was difficult to do so when it was so cold. Raven then realized how cold _she_ was. Beast Boy and Cyborg were walking over to her. Raven was trying hard not to shiver from the cold, because she knew her friends didn't have a cloak like her, or anything too warm for that matter! Beast Boy could become cold very easily.

   "Are you cold?" A comfortable voice said. Raven turned around and saw Beast Boy looking worried. Cyborg shot her a sympathetic look, understanding that Raven and Beast Boy might need some time together, and went to check on Robin and Starfire.

   "A bit." Raven admitted. Beast Boy moved closer to her, but Raven backed up. She felt awkward, but she didn't know why.

   "What's wrong, Rae?" Beast Boy asked.

   "I'm just... worried for you guys." Raven replied.

   "Worried?" Beast Boy echoed. "Why?"

   "Aren't _you_ _guys_ cold?" Raven asked.

   "Yeah, but-"

   "It's just I’m wearing a cloak that covers well... most of me and you guys are in regular clothes. Cyborg is half metal but he still feels the cold." Raven said.

   "Raven..." Beast Boy mumbled, feeling bad for her. Raven was feeling guilty that she had warm things on but not them. Starfire and Robin have short sleeves on their clothes. Starfire was wearing a skirt, for Azarath's sake! _Why me?_ She thought. Suddenly someone came up behind her. She turned around only to find Robin.

   "Stop blaming yourself, Raven. It's not your fault that Terra did this." Robin looked at her sadly, placing one of his hands on Raven's shoulder for comfort. "Speaking of her," Robin added, taking his hand off Raven. "Where is Terra?" Raven went ahead and decided to sense her. _I-I can sense things._ She remembered saying when they first met and they were trying to find Starfire after she went on a rampage. Raven gasped as she flipped her eyes wide.

   "Terra!" She gasped.

   "Where?" Robin asked. Raven looked around and saw another small cave, but with footprints going inside.

   "There!" Raven shouted.

   "Titans, go!" Robin shouted. Raven once again tried to fly, and it worked! _That's how I sensed Terra!_ Once the others saw Raven flying, they began to activate their powers, and they worked too. _Now maybe we can fight Terra._ Raven thought. They finally found Terra at the edge of the cave, where she was laying there, unmoving.

   "Terra?" Beast Boy called out. He glanced at Raven, letting her know that he loved Raven more. Raven felt warmth inside her and smiled slightly at him. Then, Terra jumped up and slapped Beast Boy in the face with rocks. He slid on his back until he finally landed right in front of Robin. Robin looked down and widened his eyes, then shot a hatred stare at Terra. Raven glanced at her, and there was something in her eyes that triggered Raven's memory. _Trigon!_ She realized. _When I revived the world after Trigon destroyed it, everything went from stone to normal. Terra was stoned before! I get it now. This... this is my fault._ Raven blamed herself. Suddenly, a rumble of the rocks triggered the Titans attention. Rocks fell overhead, trapping Raven and Terra together and the rest of the Titans on the other side of the wall of rocks.

   "Looks like it's just you and me." Terra smirked. Raven stared at her. Terra threw a few big rocks at her and she fell close to the wall of rocks that Terra created. Rocks then fell on top of Raven, hurting her. Crushing her. She didn't move. _Maybe if I don't move, it won't cause much pain?_ She figured. But even without moving, Terra was building up rocks on top of her. She was being crushed in darkness. She tried to use her powers, but the rocks were too heavy and were hurting her much more than expected. Raven opened her eyes only to see a few rocks being removed.

   "Raven!" Screamed a voice. She looked up only to see Beast Boy. He reached inside the small hole and carefully tried to pull out Raven. She felt something nagging on her. She looked back and, barely able to see, made out a rock holding onto her leg. Reaching back, she tugged her leg away from the rock. She reached back for Beast Boy, and he got her out right before the rocks tumbled, filling in the hole where Raven would’ve been crushed if it wasn't for her boyfriend. They crashed on top of each other.

   "Beast Boy? How did you-" Raven's question was cut short.

   "Hello? Me? _Beast_ Boy? I can change into different animals and fit through almost anything!" He answered her unfinished question.

   "Nice reunion, but I've got work to do!" Screamed Terra. Raven and Beast Boy both looked up at her.

   "Terra, no!" Beast Boy screamed. She didn't listen.

   "Beast Boy, go." Raven ordered.

   "What?" He sounded confused.

   "Trust me." Raven answered.

   "No! I'm staying here with you, Rave!" He objected. She realized there was no point in arguing right now. She quickly put a force field over her and her boyfriend so Terra couldn't attack them- at least, for a while. Raven struggled to keep the force field up while Terra banged it with rocks. Raven and her boyfriend were still lying on the ground, while Raven was still in pain. Even then she realized she would take the biggest risks to defend her friends.

   On the other side of the rock wall, Starfire, Cyborg and Robin were trying to think of a way to help Raven and Beast Boy get out.

   "I got it." Cyborg said. He pulled out his sonic cannon and blasted the rock wall. At the same time, Raven and Beast Boy were in the same spot Cyborg blasted. They both rolled forward and toppled onto each other and Raven's force field went away. They both looked up, only to see their three friends staring at them. Terra yelled in anger.

     "Why can't I get rid of you guys?" She screamed. The whole place started to shake and Terra's powers went overboard. Rocks fell from the ceiling. Raven and Beast Boy had gotten off of each other but were still lying on the ground, hurt. When they saw a gigantic rock looming overhead, Beast Boy yelped while Raven widened her eyes and gasped, the same expression she remembered doing in her mind when she, her boyfriend and Cyborg were trapped with Trigon. Without thinking, Raven grabbed Beast Boy and flew awkwardly over to the others. She put him down carefully. When Raven approached, she almost fell onto the ground again, but Beast Boy held onto her. Raven couldn't feel her leg. _It must be broken from Terra's rocks. Yay me._ She thought.

   "Raven, are you ok?" Someone had asked. She looked over and saw Robin. "Do you think you can still fight?" He asked.

   "I might have a broken leg, but that doesn't mean I can't fight." Raven answered calmly. Robin gave her broken leg a last glance, unsure if Raven really wanted to fight. Raven was holding her broken leg up behind her, while trying to balance on her good leg with Beast Boy's support. The whole cave started to shake again, and Terra brought down more rocks. Unfortunately for Terra, she had brought down too many and bigger rocks started to trap her. They all watched as their enemy was surrounded by heavy boulders. Moments passed of not hearing or seeing anything of Terra.

   "Come on," Robin started after backing away a bit. "Let's find our way back home." Robin started walking, followed by Starfire and Cyborg, then Beast Boy and Raven. They put their arms around each other as Raven tried to walk. Robin saw them going slower with each step, and he whispered to Starfire and Cyborg to go a bit slower.

   "Raven, can you fly?" Beast Boy asked her.

   "I can't right now, Beast Boy." She answered.

   "Why?" He wanted to know.

 _"Everything hurts."_ She replied, only a small bit of pain in her voice. Beast Boy understood how hurt she must be, because whenever else she was hurt, she never showed _this_ much pain. She hardly even spoke with pain in her voice until now!

   "Well, I just hope you'll feel a lot better soon!" Beast Boy sounded hopeful. Raven smiled a bit at him. Soon they found a way out of the caves, but it was snowing hard. _We can't go out there! We'll freeze, and I'm sure my friends have more problems than snow. Slade, Terra, my stupid broken leg. I feel... weak. Useless. Unhelpful._

 _No, Raven. Your friends need you. Let them help you._ A voice said in Raven's head. She let it encourage her more.

"Guess we're spending the night in the caves." Robin had mumbled.

 

 

   The morning hit fast and Starfire was the first to wake. She woke everyone up, wanting to get back home. Suddenly, someone approached Raven.

   "Beast Boy, is that you?" She asked. When her eyes got used to the light, they widened. _We can't deal with this now! Not Slade!_ Slade tried to grab her without a word, but Raven put her hood up and started to fight. But Slade slammed Raven sideways up against a rock. It hurt her leg even more. She toppled down until she laid there, too much pain going through her. Suddenly Slade went down with a grunt. Raven looked over and saw Robin trying to fight him off. The others ran over to Raven, and tried to get her someplace safe.

   "Guys, you don't have to-" Raven's protest was cut short.

   "Raven, it is quite obvious Slade's after you again for who knows what." Cyborg commented.

   "And your leg is broken." Beast Boy mumbled sadly. Raven went ahead and let her friends help her. They all helped her up and ran as fast as they could with Raven deeper into the caves until they were safe enough.

   "Star, B, help Raven find a safe place and stay there with her. _Don't_ let Slade get to her. I'm goin' back to fight with Robin." Cyborg said. He gave Raven a glance and said, "Raven, I just hope your leg heals soon. You have healin' powers right? And are you sure you're gonna be alright, Rave?" He asked.

   "I suppose I can give it a try. And I'll be fine, just as long as Slade doesn't come looking for me again." Raven answered.

   "Rave-" Cyborg tried to protest. Raven looked at him with a long stare, indicating she wanted him to go fight instead of worrying about her so much. Cyborg nodded with a brief smile at Raven and ran off to help Robin. Beast Boy held onto Raven’s arm to give her support. Starfire was beside Raven, holding onto Raven’s back and stomach to help her. Raven’s other arm held onto Starfire’s arm to get more support. Raven was walking on both of her legs, grunting each time her broken leg touched the ground. She panted, sweat dripping from her face as she tried walking faster. Suddenly, she tripped, making the trio fall down.

   "Sorry." Raven mumbled as she did her best to help her friends up and not stumble again. They continued on until it got too dark and Starfire had to light up the cave with her starbolts. They heard a scream, on the other side of the caves. But that's where.... _Cyborg and Robin! They're still fighting Slade!_ Raven realized.

   "Beast Boy, Starfire, we have to get back there!" Raven commented. They ran quickly back. Finally they found the boys, but Raven almost fell again, but grunted when she almost toppled her friends down. Again. But Beast Boy and Starfire still held onto their friend. They finally saw Robin and Cyborg fighting, but losing desperately. _No..._

At once, Robin saw Raven and they others, and screamed, "Go! Raven, run!"

   Raven saw no other choice. Closing her eyes for a heartbeat, she opened them again and sighed.

"We have to fight." Raven mumbled in an even tone towards Starfire and Beast Boy. The two friends gaped in shock that Raven would still want to fight, even with her broken leg and Robin's direct order to go. Before anyone could protest, Raven flew forward and knocked down Slade with her powers. _I hate this. I didn't leave like Robin wanted me to. I have a broken leg. Not to mention I'm weak, but not as weak as before, so I can work my powers. But I'm not going to win this!_ Raven kept thinking as she fought Slade.

"Raven! Move!" Robin shouted. He ran over to her and pushed her down to avoid Slade's hard kick.

   "I didn't hurt you, did I?" Robin asked her. He was glancing at Raven's leg. They were on top of each other on the cold cave floor.

   "I'm fine." Raven answered calmly, though she winced at the burning pain in her leg. They both got up slowly, though Robin had to help Raven because of her leg. Just then Slade was about to pull out a laser to shock the Titans. Immediately Raven put up a force field. To her surprise, no one protested this time. _This is the first time that they didn't try to stop me._ Raven realized. Grunting, she made her force field darker and darker until Starfire had to light things up. With one last, final push on the force field, she teleported the Titans and herself back home.

   They were all in the living room. Cyborg fell on his back while Starfire did a flip until they just stayed still on the sofa. Beast Boy and Robin landed almost on their faces, but managed to get up. Raven fell, almost on top of Beast Boy, but was alright.

"You ok Rave?" Cyborg asked.

"Never better." Raven replied. They all fixed their selves on a position on the couch. Starfire started scooting over to Robin, while Raven, though slightly embarrassed, scooted over to Beast Boy.

"You know, it's... nice to be back with you guys." Raven said awkwardly.

   "I'm just glad we're out of all that mess." Robin chimed in.

   "And I'm glad that I have you, Rae." Beast Boy whispered. Raven hugged him, and Cyborg looked at Raven like she was crazy. But then he remembered that they were dating. Robin and Starfire snuggled together as did Raven and Beast Boy. Together they all sat there for a moment longer, until Cyborg grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.


	8. He Is A Dork, Yes?

Chapter 7:

He Is a Dork, Yes?

   It was six weeks since the Titans had been in the caves, and no sign of Slade or Terra. Raven's leg had also healed. Everything was going smoothly. Until another criminal broke free of his cell.

   "Control Freak. Downtown. Titans," Robin explained. "Go!" They all got into the T-Car, and zoomed off to stop the co-prisoner. But it was close to the lake, so they had to find him. Awhile after searching, Robin split up the group.

   "Raven, you and Beast Boy search on the North side," Robin was ordering at the bottom of the shore. "And Star, Cyborg and I will take the South side." They all agreed to that so they went off. The 'goth' girl and the green boy flew in the air together, but something was watching them. The mysterious thing watching them threw a huge blue ball that was sticky. It tied itself around the two Titans. Beast Boy freaked out as he transformed back into himself. They started to fall into the lake.

   "Can't transform me!" He shouted. "Can't transform me!" Raven tried her best to fly, but it seemed like whatever the sticky stuff was, it was keeping them from their own powers. She made one last grunt that took the breath -literally- out of her and before she could take another breath, they dived down into the lake, sinking.

   "Hmmmhp! Hmm-pph!" Beast Boy hummed out. Luckily, the weird, blue, sticky, gross stuff stumbled off of them and dissolved into the water, never to be seen again. Beast Boy climbed up to the shore. Once he was done coughing miserably, he realized Raven never came up. Diving back down, he found Raven plunging deeper and rescued her. Swimming up as fast as he could with another Titan, they reached the shore. The second air went through, was the same second Raven hacked and coughed while still trying to grab the shore.

   "Raven!" Beast Boy screamed for her. He pulled her up completely until they both just sat there, coughs taking over them, until they stopped coughing.

   "Beast Boy, do you know what... just happened?" Raven asked.

   "Uh-uh" He replied. Raven's communicator gave a ring and she looked into the screen. It was Robin.

   "Control Freak wasn't spotted or seen at all here. You guys have any luck?" He asked. Because Raven and Beast Boy just went for a 'swim', Robin turned his determined face into a concerned face. "What happened?" He asked.

   "Something must've been watching us from a bush near here, and threw a sticky blue ball at us. It tied around us and we couldn't use our powers, so we couldn't fly. Beast Boy and I crashed into the lake and the... thing dissolved. We're fine now, I think. But we did swallow a lot of water." Raven explained, glancing at Beast Boy.

   "I'll tell Cyborg to-" Robin tried to say.

   "Don't. We'll be fine." Raven declined the offer.

   "I'll at least send Starfire to make sure you guys are ok." Robin argued. Raven felt defeated. She nodded, indicating that it would be fine. Robin nodded back and turned the communicator off. Beast Boy coughed again and Raven looked at him despairingly. Before any of them could do anything, Starfire flew down.

   "Friends! You have been injured?" The cheerful Titan asked.

   "No, but we did drink a lot of water." Raven answered. _And for some reason my back is slowly hurting. Was it something from the blue thing?_

   "Especially Raven. She kept sinking down after I got out, but I went back to help her." Beast Boy explained. Starfire understood.

   "Do you think you are strong enough to go back to the tower? Starfire wondered. The soaked Titans shook their heads yes. Beast Boy, Starfire and Raven all flew towards the tower, but Raven's pain in her back increased. _Did I smash into a rock when I was underwater somehow?_ She asked herself. Beast Boy and Starfire didn't know, though. Raven soon found it harder to fly with them, but acted like everything was normal. Starfire hung back by Raven, who was trailing behind slowly.

"Raven? You are injured?" The Tamaranian girl asked. Raven felt nervous. She knew she couldn't keep it a secret from her friends, especially Starfire.

"I don't know. Since we've started to fly my back... hurts." Raven explained, realizing that flying might be the problem. Suddenly something zapped her.

"Ahh!" Raven screamed as she fell into the ocean again. Popping her head out, she flew back up to her friends, only to see more blue things flying at them. Widening her eyes, Raven grabbed Starfire's arm while Beast Boy got hit with another ball. Crashing into the water, he felt Raven trying to grab him. Finally finding him, Raven flew faster than Starfire could ever fly. And for her, that's saying a lot!

Hiding themselves inside the tower, Raven got her communicator.

"Hello?" A voice on the other end said. It was Robin.

"We're back at the tower. The same person that threw the blue stuff at us striked again. It hit Beast Boy, but he seems ok." Raven explained.

"We can't seem to find Control Freak, so we're heading back to the tower." Robin said. Nodding, Raven turned the communicator off.

"Robin said he's coming back to the tower with Cyborg." Raven called to Beast Boy and Starfire, who were tired from everything that day. In just minutes Robin and Cyborg came through the tower door.

"Whoa. You guys looked tired." Robin commented awkwardly. "Go get some rest. All of you. Raven, hang back for a second. You too, Beast Boy."

Looking at each other confused, Raven and Beast Boy went over to Robin.

"Beast Boy, Raven told me that you swallowed a lot of water. Are you feeling ok?" Robin asked.

"Well, I haven't vomited yet, have I?" Beast Boy half-joked. Robin sighed.

"Go get some rest, BB." Robin ordered. "Raven, what's wrong?" Raven had grunted while standing in an awkward position. Robin had seemed to hear it.

"Just, uhh..." Raven tried to think. _I can't lie to him._ She thought.

"I'm not sure if in the water earlier I might have hit a rock," Raven explained. "because my back hurts. But when I was flying with Star and Beast Boy, I didn't fly well. I-I still don't understand what happened with my back, but it stopped hurting." She added. Robin looked at Raven for another moment.

"Are you _sure_ that nothing's wrong? Your leg got crushed the last time we saw Terra, and now somehow your back hurts. Talk to me or Cy tomorrow, so we can help if anything's wrong." Robin said. He left the entrance room and went to his room where he could catch up on some rest. Raven hung back. _And now they're concerning about my back._ Raven thought. Though she grew tired of them always giving themselves up for her and she wanted to help _them,_ she couldn't help but feel love towards them. They were her friends. Her _family._ She loved them. And they cared for her. Yawning, she teleported to her room, where she took off her cloak and went to bed. _Good... goodnight, my friends._ Raven wished her friends from her mind. Closing her eyes, she felt as if she could sleep forever.

 

 

   Robin was sound asleep in his room, when he heard something in the tower. It was already eight in the morning. Jerking awake, he leaped out of his comfy bed and zoomed into the living room, with the rest of the Titans on his heels. Turning on the screen, it showed a blue map of their city, Jump City. Appearing on the screen was something that they had expected, but not so soon after the accidents. Raven's broken leg, the caves, Terra....

   It all came back.

   Slade!

   He was back once again. Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire all let out gasps when they saw the picture. Raven and Robin just glanced at each other, understanding that the Titans needed each other together more than ever. Even though everyone there in the tower was nervous of what Slade might do this time, they got ready. Starfire, eyes green, starbolts ready. Cyborg, fully charged, ready to activate his sonic cannon. Beast Boy, excited to see Slade destroyed. Raven, hood up, prepared to defeat Slade. Robin, all his tools and weapons in place, prepared to take Slade down just like they've done before.

   "Titans," Robin shouted. "Go!"

   They all zoomed out of the tower, Beast Boy transforming into a pterodactyl and helped Cyborg as they flew together across the ocean. Starfire helping Robin, like usual. Raven flew by herself, but not far from her friends. They all charged over to the heart of their city. For some reason, when they were in the air, Raven's mind went back to past memories. Bad memories about Slade. Her mind flew back and left her.

   _"That's not Slade! That's..." Beast Boy's voice trailed._

_"Robin." Starfire finished for him. All Raven could do was stare in horror as Robin looked exactly like Slade. The suit, the gear, everything. He attacked his former friends and disappeared. Starfire hovered over the Titans._

_"Robin..." She whispered. The remaining Titans looked over to her, clearly sharing the same thoughts: Robin was a criminal now._

   Raven shook the thoughts out of her head. But they kept coming back.

   _"Leave. Him. Alone." Starfire said angrily as starbolts shot Slade. He activated the probes and everyone except Robin turned orange. Pain shuddered through them all. Starfire's tears ran down her face as she looked up at Robin. He couldn't bear to see her cry. Instantly he put probes in himself so Slade could lose his apprentice. Like always, Slade got his butt kicked._

_"Let's go home." Robin said flatly._

   Letting out a small grunt when shaking her head away from dark memories, Raven caught up with her friends.

   "Starfire, come with me," Robin was directing. They all had landed close to the street. "Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven, you search that half for anything."

   Raven trailed after her friends.

   "You guys can go ahead. I'll... I'll search this way." Raven pointed farther down the streets. Cyborg and Beast Boy looked at each other in confusion, and then walked away. Raven continued walking the way she told them, wanting a few moments for the memories to dissolve. Instantly they came pouring back, like a waterfall splashing the freezing water over the sunny, hot ground.

     _"Terra."_

_"Raven."_

_"Traitor!"_

_"Witch!"_

_Over and over, Raven and Terra fought, until Raven lost control and Terra saw the chance. The chance to drown her in mud! The last thing Raven saw was darkness overcoming her with waves. Next thing she knew, she fell into a cave, where Cyborg and Beast Boy were waiting. When Robin and Starfire found their way down, they came up with a plan._

"Get out of my head!" Raven cursed her own mind with a whisper. But the voices reminding her of these memories flooded in anyway.

   _"It'll be the last thing you'll ever do!" Raven threatened from behind the shadows as Terra pierced a sharp, pointed edged rock at Beast Boy, who was trapped under more rocks. The Titans were prepared to hurt Terra if they needed too, but only if she hurt Beast Boy._

_"It's your life, Terra. Your choice. You don't have to let Slade to control you. It's your choice, Terra." Beast Boy's voice rang in Terra's ears._

_"I'm so sorry, Beast Boy. For everything I've done." Terra whispered. Making a fist, she turned and screamed, shooting the rock towards Slade. A short battle later, Slade fell into lava and Terra to stone._

_Please, stop!_ Raven begged to her mind. She couldn't bear these unexpected memories forming inside her dark, shadowy mind. _Get out of my head! Get out!_ Raven sat on a small tree stump for a moment, holding her head, begging, pleading for the voices to stop. But a final thought ran through her mind: her own problems with Slade.

   _"The portal must be open!" Slade said multiple times. Raven, shaking and scared, ran from her fears of destroying the world. Her friends had found out when Trigon had somehow brought instant darkness in the middle of a nice summer day. Raven went sideways, then went to get closer to her friends, but thought better of it, knowing now they will find out. Falling to the ground, she lit up red from the signs of Trigon. Robin picked her head up, while Raven stared blankly at him, but with wide eyes._

_"Raven? Why didn't you tell us? It's happening isn't it?" Robin flooded the air with questions._

_"Please Raven, today is the day? It is..?" Starfire commented._

_"The end of the world." Raven announced. Not able to look at her friends any longer, she closed her eyes, but only to shed tears, which made her teammates worried sick._

"Raven?" Cyborg popped up. Cyborg's concern had brought Raven back to the real world. She was still sitting on the tree stump, but Cyborg was next to her.

   "Oh, uhh, hi, Cyborg." Raven tried not to sound awkward, but when did she ever say 'hi' like that? She quickly took her hands off her head and stared at Cyborg blankly.

   "Somethin's wrong. I can tell, Rave. Tell me what's wrong." Cyborg prompted. When Raven hesitated, Cyborg said, "I won't tell Robin, or Starfire."

   "Not even Beast Boy?" Raven mumbled, glancing at Cyborg.

   "Unless you wanna tell them, then I won't. I promise." Cyborg swore. Instantly, Raven spilled out the visions of all the memories she kept getting. Cyborg's face was very concerning now. When Raven finished, Cyborg waited a moment, then asked, "Raven, last time we saw Terra, your leg got crushed, then your back hurt, and now weird memories? Are you ok, Rave?"

Raven didn't even know what to say. "No..." She mumbled. For once, she just wanted someone to be there for her. Someone who understands her. Someone who would look out and care for her and be there for her when she needed them to be. Someone like.... _Beast Boy._

   "Well, BB and I didn't find Slade in our part, but we did find something." Cyborg explained, changing the subject, also holding up one of Slade's weapons, along with Robin's.

   "We need to find them!" Raven's voice was daunted as she spoke, but she was confident. Beast Boy soon came around, asking what had happened. Cyborg looked at Raven, who shook her head 'no'.

   "Another time, BB." Cyborg said. "When Raven wants to explain, she will. But for now, Teen Titans, go!" Cyborg hollered out the original and famous line. Raven carried them all on a circle formed by demonic power of magic. Together, they all flew to where Robin and Starfire were left. Raven stared in horror as Starfire lay there on a sidewalk, unmoving, with Robin nowhere in sight. Raven held her mouth open, with wide eyes.

   _Starfire!_


	9. Just A Dream

Chapter 8: Just a Dream

   Raven gasped as she looked down with wide, terrified eyes at Starfire's unmoving body.

   "Starfire..." Raven mumbled, her eyes turning from horror-streaked to dull. Her shoulders sank and she felt weak. Cyborg came over to Raven and put one hand on her shoulder. He, too, also looked depressed.

   "Raven, I know that Star's your best friend here, and I can understand how hard it is for you to see her like this. But whatever we do, we gotta find Robin, too." Cyborg said, trying to convince Raven that this wasn't the worst they could find. Raven hesitated at first, and then nodded.

   "Ok... I guess... Like you said, Cyborg, it's... hard for me to see Starfire like this. For... lots of reasons..." Raven murmured. "But you're right. We need to find Robin."

   "And Slade." Beast Boy broke into the conversation.

   "Then let's go." Raven said as she made another plate-looking platform for everyone to ride on. Lifting Starfire, Cyborg hopped on after Raven and Beast Boy as they searched everywhere for Robin. They all flew in the air together, searching for Robin. When Raven landed the platform, she stopped using her powers and it disappeared.

   "Robin?" Cyborg yelled out.

   "Roooobin?" Beast Boy screamed. While Beast Boy and Cyborg were trying to call out for Robin, Raven went to check on Starfire. They were on the edge of a small shore. Using her healing powers, she tried to heal Starfire while also looking over her for any signs of scratches, bruises, anything.

     _Please...._ Raven begged in her mind for Starfire to be ok. Once she was able to heal Starfire enough, she stopped. Raven couldn't do anymore. They had to wait. Closing her eyes, Raven hoped that Starfire would be alright.

   "Any luck, Raven?" Cyborg popped up from behind.

   "No. I was able to heal her as much as I could, but that's all." Raven answered. Cyborg looked at her sympathetically. "I-I don't know if I can-" Raven was cut off when Starfire started coughing.

   "Ohhh..." Starfire murmured. "Robin...?" Raven rejoiced inside. Starfire's ok! Raven tried not to show how happy she was, because letting emotions go wasn't like her. Helping her friend up, Raven and Starfire stood side by side for a moment, until Starfire almost fell. Raven caught her while Cyborg ran over to them with Beast Boy on his heels. Cyborg picked Starfire up and held her, eyes terrified. But Starfire was just weak. She would be ok.

   "Where is Robin?" Starfire asked weakly. Raven and Beast Boy exchanged a glance.

   "Uhh, Star? We're not sure." Beast Boy told her. Raven prepared herself to be screamed at by Starfire, demanding to find him. But it never came. Starfire looked around, as if trying to find Robin.

   "Hang on." Raven said. "Azarath Mentrion Zin-" Raven's chant was cut off as something popped into her mind. Grunting, she fell to the ground. She got up and shook her head as her boyfriend helped her up.

   "Raven?" Beast Boy sounded worried. Shaking her head one last time, she realized that she was finding out where Robin was.

   "Robin. He's with Slade." Raven explained. "And he's..." Raven concentrated as she placed her hand on her head. "He's being held captive!" Starfire gasped as Raven spoke.

   "Alright, Raven," Raven told herself in a whisper. "Concentrate. Concentrate. _Concentrate!_ " Her powers went full blast and this time, she screamed out her usual chant once more.

"Azarath Mentrion Zinthos!" Raven screamed. Eyes white, she created the platform again, but instead made a circle around the Titans. She used her 'soul-self' to transport them to where Robin and Slade were: in Slade's lair of course! They had just arrived when Slade was saying something to Robin.

   "You cannot run forever. It's time to give up, Robin." Slade whispered.

   "Time's up!" Raven shouted as she put a force field over her friends.

   "Raven?" Robin mumbled.

   "Raven." Slade said with satisfaction.

   "Raven!" Cyborg ordered. "Now!" Giving him a quick nod, Raven erased the force field and threw demonic magic at Slade instead. It hit Slade, but he barely reacted to it.

   "Come now, Raven. I _know_ you can do better than that!" Slade said. Raven looked to the other side of him and saw Robin tied up.

   "Hiyaaa!" Starfire shouted while flying hard towards Slade.

   "Starfire, wait!" Raven screamed, grabbing her foot.

   "Wait for what? An invitation?" Beast Boy hollered. Raven and Cyborg exchanged a glance at each other.

   _We need to find out what Slade's planning._ Raven had somehow reached the other Titans' minds using telepathy. She didn't know how, but then she remembered when Slade had taken Robin when he breathed in dust from Slade's mask. She used her soul-self, but she used part of her telepathy to speak to Robin in his mind. Raven looked around, ready to see freaked out faces, but Cyborg nodded, as if understanding why she had to do this, but Raven saw confusion in his eyes. _Probably confused of how I'm doing this, right Cyborg?_ Raven's telepathy moved around.

   _Yeah. Like, how_ did _you do this, Rae?_ Cyborg asked through his mind.

   _We can worry about all that later,_ Raven tried hard to control the telepathy, because it was new to her. At least, she used it just once or twice her whole life. _Right now we need to find out what Slade's up to. This time._

"What are you doing to Robin?" Starfire screamed fiercely at Slade.

   _Starfire, wait!_ Raven screamed through her mind. Though still flaring with anger, Starfire backed away. Robin was trying to escape the belts that tied him down. He was tied up to a panel that looked similar to Cyborg's bed.

   _Raven, take the others and go._ Robin directed. But she didn't want to. She wanted to save Robin. They all did. She felt the team tense up as Slade took a few steps toward Raven. Slade faced her, and Raven tensed up, wanting to just rip his mask off.

   "Raven, nice to see you again, hmm?" Slade said. Raven flared up.

   "It's never pleasant to see _you._ " Raven said. Her worries went back to Robin. _What's Slade doing?_ Raven thought. But as she was about to tell the remaining Titans to attack, Slade lunged at Beast Boy, pulling him away.

   "If you're really so worried about Robin, perhaps I can take someone else you... oh, what is the word?" Slade chuckled. "You _love?_ " Raven widened her eyes and gasped. _No! Please… Stop... You have no idea how much these people mean to me!_ Raven thought.

   "Well, Raven? What will it be?" Slade threatened. At first, Raven was horror struck. Who would she pick? What will she do? Suddenly she wondered why she was being so stupid. _They're my friends. I'll do anything for them!_ Her eyes turning from horror to flames, she activated her powers, energy flowing through her like never before. _Can I say it?_ Raven asked the team- even Robin- through her telepathy.

   _Yes you can, Raven._ Robin said with a slight smile at her. Raven took a short breath before calling out the line everyone across the globe should know.

   "Titans, go!" Raven hollered. At once, they all lunged at Slade. Beast Boy transformed into a gorilla and held Slade down. Turning back into himself, he yelled, "Cy! Your moment!" Cyborg came crashing in, blowing Slade with his sonic cannon.

   "Yo Raven! Starfire!" Cyborg screamed. The two girls went up in the air, spun around next to each other, and starbolts plus demonic magic hit Slade. _Hard._ Slade went underground a bit, but it also created a huge hole. Starfire and Raven went to get Robin out of his 'belt-trap'. Once they did they all returned to Cyborg. Beast Boy had turned back into a gorilla and started to throw gears on Slade. Burying him. But Beast Boy went overload. The place started to fall down.

   "Raven, get us out of here." Robin said calmly with a smile. Raven could tell he was glad to be back with the Titans and not Slade. Quickly, Raven made a ball around all of them and shaped her 'raven-form', also her soul-self, and flew back to the tower fast. When they got there, Raven had accidently made them remain in the air. They all started to fall, but Raven caught them with her magic. Setting them down on the floor carefully, Raven came down from flying.

   "You all ok?" Raven asked.

   "Never better." Robin answered with a smile.

   "Boo-yah!" Cyborg smiled.

   "Hehehehe!" Starfire bounced up and down.

   "If Slade comes back, he will be..." Beast Boy said. He slammed his fists together to finish his sentence. Raven felt relieved everyone was alright.

   "Alright, Titans. We need some sleep." Robin said cheerfully. "Let's go to bed." With that, everyone went in their rooms.

   Raven was laying in her bed, unable to fall asleep. Memories would not stop flooding into her mind. She tried to fall asleep. To imagine different things. But she couldn't. She didn't remember the memories from a long time ago, she remembered memories from only days -weeks even- ago.

_"If anyone hurts you guys," Cyborg started to say. "I'll take care of them; you can make sure of it, Robin."_

_"And me." Beast Boy said._

_"And me." Robin chimed in._

_"And me." Starfire put weakly._

_"And me." Raven blurted out._

_"If Slade is truly back, you're gonna need all the help you can get," Raven commented. "So this time, don't make me hang back. You can trust me, because if Slade's back, I'll_ Azarath, Mentrion, Snap his flat neck."

   "Oh no you don't!" Raven muttered. She didn't want memories back.

_"P-please," Raven began, hints of tears as she spoke. Her voice was shaky, and her whole body quivered. "Help her...." Raven gazed over at Starfire's face, terrified._

Raven slammed her hands to her head as she sat up in her bed.

   "Gahh... no..!" Raven whispered. "Relax, Raven. Just meditate." She told herself. She grabbed her cloak, put it on, and went to the window to meditate.

   "Azarath Mentrion Zinthos. Azarath Mentrion Zinthos." Raven chanted over and over. "Azarath Mentri- ah!" Raven screamed. Falling onto the floor, she rubbed her head. _Great. More Slade memories. He hurt me..._ Suddenly she heard a knock on her door. Putting her hood up and going to the door, she let it slide open.

   "I heard you scream. Are you ok?" It was Robin at the door. His eyes were glazed with fear for Raven.

   "Just meditating." Raven replied quietly.

   "If you're sure..." Robin backed up.

   "Wait!" Raven whispered.

   "Yeah?" Robin looked back.

   "Are you.... are you getting random memories at night..?" Raven asked Robin awkwardly.

   "Sometimes." Robin admitted. "Why? Do you?" Raven nodded.

   "I... I keep getting memories about Slade." Raven crossed her arms, figuring that they'd be there talking for a while. "First it was when Slade took you as an apprentice. Then it was about Terra when she was with Slade. Then my own problems with him."

   "I don't know what it means, Raven. But my memories are about-" Robin stopped speaking, sadness clouding his eyes.

   "Robin?" Raven asked. "You ok?"

   "It's, uhh, nothing." Robin answered. "I can, umm, let you finish meditating."

   "Robin, what's wrong?" Raven prompted. Robin sighed.

   "Raven, I... my memories aren't filled with the Titans, Slade, or anyone else... alive." Robin looked at the floor. "They're filled with... my.. parents..." Raven looked at him calmly. "Maybe you'd know already. You've been inside my mind, remember?" Robin looked up at Raven.

   "You mean your parents' death?" Raven asked him. Robin went in her face, eyes flaring.

   "Shut up!" Robin screamed. Raven backed up.

   "Robin...?" Raven muttered. Once he saw how surprised Raven looked, Robin felt like he had hit her for no reason.

   Robin stared at the floor for a moment longer, then ran down the hall back to his own room.

   _Robin, I'm sorry I brought it up. It's my fault._ Raven used her telepathy.

   _It's ok... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have overreacted like that._ Robin replied. Raven went ahead and got to bed. With new thoughts in her mind, she fell asleep while those thoughts flooded her dreams and her own mind.

   Next thing Raven knew, she had fallen asleep, but dreamed of something... _terrible_.

   _Raven was running down a stream, but the water only reached to her feet. There had been a tall cliff that she had somehow recognized, but she couldn't think of what she remembered it from. Running into a cave, she saw someone else in there._ Starfire? _Raven thought. But the image faded away as she went closer to it. Instantly to cave filled with darkness. She was transported into a random room which she only saw in visions. A young girl sitting on her bed, staring out her window. Leaning closer, Raven got a better look at her. To her surprise, she saw her leg covered in..._ Blood? Scratches! _Three parallel lines going from her knee to the end of her upper leg. Then zigzag scratches followed up those lines. But the girl wasn't crying. She had looked happy!_ What's going on? _Raven thought._

_Leaning even closer, she saw why the girl was happy. It was springtime, and she was imagining herself outside, running around, playing, breathing in the fresh, wonderful scents of spring..._

_Raven blinked, and the room was gone. The goth girl heard the girl in her vision scream a name, but Raven couldn't understand whose name it was. She flung her head in all directions, but nothing could be found. She was back by the stream when she heard someone calling her name. Looking behind her, she searched out for the person. But there was no one there._

   "Raven!" Screamed a voice. Raven instantly woke. Glancing at her clock, it was seven in the morning. Quickly getting her cloak on, she slid open the door.

   "You better have a good explanation fo-" Raven cut herself off and looked around, embarrassed. Beast Boy was right in front of her.

   "You alright, Rae?" He asked.

   "Ahh, just a, umm, a dream. That I want to figure out what it means." Raven told him quickly.

   "Well, if there's anything I can do for you..." Beast Boy said awkwardly.

   "Wait, Beast Boy? There's.... something I want to tell you...." Raven looked down at the floor while she spoke.

   "What is it?" Beast Boy asked calmly.

   "Come in my room, and we'll talk." Raven finished. They both went into her room and the door slid shut. Raven explained her memories first, and then said what she dreamed about. Beast Boy listened, changing his expressions by the way Raven explained her visions, dreams, and memories.

   "I tried to see where the girl was but... she was gone." Raven finished explaining her dream. Beast Boy put his hand on Raven's shoulder.

   "Raven, whoever that was, it was probably just a vision." Beast Boy comforted her. At least he tried. Raven wasn't convinced.

   "Beast Boy, what if she's real? What if she's out there somewhere, needing help? What if-" Raven was cut off.

   "Raven, listen to yourself! It was a _dream._ What are you supposed to do, go to dream world and talk to her and say, 'Hey! Are you real? How can I help you?' Raven, please listen, this isn't like you. Don't think this girl is real just because you saw her in a dream. Please don't think I'm disagreeing with you on your dream, cause if she was in trouble we'd find her. For me, Raven. For me, don't get yourself into this." Beast Boy begged. Raven looked up at him.

   "Beast Boy, I'm sorry, but I thought she was real. Then again, if she was truly real, wouldn't there be something to tell me in some way?" Raven asked herself. "Don't tell anyone else about this, Beast Boy." Raven said seriously.

   "I won't. I won't." Beast Boy had a hint of fear in his eyes. Raven could do things to him that some people wouldn't want have done to them, even if they were both dating. Raven smiled slightly and got up. Beast Boy looked after her, smiled, and followed. They both went into the living room, but when they walked into the room, an alarm went off. Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg pushed their way through to look at the screen. A picture popped up.

   "Slade." Robin said, screwing up his eyes. "Titans, go!" Together, they all went outside the tower. Once they were at the shore's edge, Starfire picked up Robin, while Raven got Cyborg and Beast Boy turned into a monkey and jumped onto Raven's back. They all flew in the air to where Slade was located this time: at the original town library! Horror struck, Raven widened her eyes. Sure, she knew Trigon was gone for good, but she was still nervous about going to the library because of what happened. After thinking about everything, she didn't realize that she slowed down. Beast Boy transformed into himself again.

   "Raven!" Beast Boy shouted. Since Cyborg was heavy enough without Starfire's help, and Beast Boy was on her back, she started to fly slower and sink closer to the ocean. Grunting with effort, she tried to fly higher and faster, but it didn't work.

   "Beast Boy...Hnng... Transform… back... into a... smaller animal... Ah! Now!" Raven screamed. She could feel her back bending the wrong direction. She tried keeping it straight so the three of them didn't fall. She barely glanced down at the ocean below. The dark, light blue-ish water was engulfing its own waves. Raven held on tightly to Cyborg, even though it was a challenge for her. Instantly Beast Boy turned into a pterodactyl and got Cyborg. Raven fell towards the water from the effort it costed her. She felt too weak to start flying back up, so she let herself fall. Her eyes started to fall shut, but she wouldn't let them. Starfire and Robin were zooming down to help Raven, their eyes wide. Beast Boy and Cyborg weren't far behind them.

   "Raven!" Robin shouted. He reached one hand out to grab her, but couldn't. Starfire flew closer to Raven so Robin could grab her. But Raven kept falling. She tried to reach her arm out towards Robin's, but right before Robin could grab her, she fell into the water. Wide-eyed now, she tried to swim back up, but was falling weak. Each push only got her a bit higher, but the water sucked her down again. At last, when she couldn't find her energy to swim up, she let herself sink. Raven let go of her breath she was holding in, and watched the bubbles float themselves to the surface. She flipped so her back faced the water's surface.

   _This is it,_ Raven thought. _I can't swim up; I'm out of breath... Was this what you wanted, Trigon...?_ Raven kept sinking until she felt something hold onto her. Suddenly she felt pressure from the water dive into her back. She opened her eyes slightly only to see Beast Boy transformed into an octopus and was swimming back up with her. Raven was already passed out by the time they reached the surface. Beast Boy transformed back into himself and was holding Raven carefully. Raven, although still unconscious, snuggled herself closer to her boyfriend.

   "Beast Boy..." Raven mumbled.

   "I'm here, Raven." Beast Boy whispered, though he knew Raven was unconscious. For the moment. Suddenly, Raven coughed a bit, and then slightly opened her eyes.

   "Beast.... Boy....?" Raven mumbled. Suddenly, Beast Boy's hands slipped and Raven fell back under the water. But her boyfriend was quicker; he dived down to rescue Raven once more, this time not turning into an animal. They bobbled their heads to the surface of the water, gasping for air. Raven's eyes were wide now, but she still wasn't strong enough to fly herself.

   "Get her!" Beast Boy screamed at the team for help. Cyborg quickly held her, with Raven's boyfriend turned into a whale and everyone landed on him. Raven's eyes started to fall shut, and this time, she let them.

   Cyborg was still holding Raven and Starfire was next to Robin, holding his arm behind Cyborg. Raven's eyes opened again slightly, but she remained silent. She recognized Cyborg holding her. He glanced down and noticed Raven was conscious.

   "You ok?" Cyborg asked. Unable to say anything, since she was still weak, she nodded. Once they all got to the edge of the shore, everyone hopped off of Beast Boy. He turned back to normal and got up. Cyborg set Raven down, since she was awake. Raven rubbed her head, wondering what to say. Before she could even think of what she was exactly going to say, words flew out of her mouth.

   "I-I'm fine, honestly." Raven murmured.

   "Fine? You almost died!" Beast Boy screamed. Raven could tell that he was extremely upset.

   "I'm sorry," Raven started. "but can we... can we talk about this later, maybe?" When her friends stared at her, she whispered, "I just wanna get this over with." They all understood.

   Raven turned around, knowing what they'd walk into. They all walked into the library, and Raven followed a bit behind, afraid of what they might find. Everything still remained when they got down into the lower part: the Raven statues, the demon hand, everything. Luckily, to actually prove Trigon is completely gone, Raven didn't light up the signs like what happened last time.

   "No more games, Slade! Come out!" Robin screamed. It echoed throughout the room. "Gah!" Robin grunted at rocks piled on top of him.

   Starfire gasped. "Robin!" Cyborg and Starfire tried to remove the rocks, but more rocks got toppled on them instead. Only Beast Boy and Raven remained.

   "What do you want?" Raven said, screwing up her eyes.

   "Really, Raven? I don't want _them._ " Slade replied, jumping down from the demon hand and right in front of Raven. Eyes wide, Raven faced him.

   "I want _you."_ Slade finished. Before he could grab Raven, Beast Boy flung himself in between them both, and shoved Slade out of the way.

   "No!" Beast Boy screamed. Surprised, Raven just stared, unable to fight. Shaking her head, she raced over to the rocks and tried to dig out the rest of her friends.

   _Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, can you hear me?_ Raven said. When there was no reply, she screamed in her mind.

   _Robin! Starfire! Cyborg!_ She said. _Can you hear me?_ A moment’s pause and Beast Boy had screamed, making Raven race her head around. _First Robin, then Starfire and Cyborg, now Beast Boy! What's happening?_

   "If you want me Slade," Raven began. "You can have me!" She gave Slade a huge kick in the face, and made rocks fly down on him from the walls with her powers. Grunting, she buried him under so many rocks, she wasn't sure Slade had actually survived that. Brought back to reality, she ran over to Beast Boy. Her eyes were no longer white.

   "Are you ok?" Raven shouted. Beast Boy rubbed his head.

   "Y-yeah, I'm fine... Are you ok?" Beast Boy asked her.

   "I'm fine. Come on, we gotta get the rest of the team." Raven replied. Quickly, they both raced over to the rocks and dug out Cyborg first. Beast Boy checked him out while Raven found Starfire. Raven did a quick mind scan on them both, and they were fine. They had just passed out. Lastly, Raven dug out Robin. She set him next to Starfire, and did another mind scan on him. The same results: alive, fine, but passed out. Raven told Beast Boy what she had done, and told him everything was fine. Robin had started to cough.

   "Ugh... Raven..?" Robin muttered. One by one, the each woke up. The whole room began to crumble, rock by rock, until there was nothing to see but falling rocks. Raven looked around and saw some round things on the ceiling, bringing down the roof. They were all marked with a black and gold 'S'. Quickly, wide-eyed, Raven put a force field above everyone. But somehow, a rock went through and hit Raven's arm. Since the rock was bigger than Raven herself, it crushed her arm.

   "Ah!" Screamed Raven. Hardly able to keep the force field up any longer, she forced out words to her friends.

   "Hnng.... Hold. On." Raven spat out. Blinking one eye open, she saw the force field start to fade. Not caring about her arm, which felt as if it was on fire, she used her special words to get them out of there.

   "Hnng... Gah! A..Azarath... Mentrion... Zinthos!" Raven struggled with the words. Before they all knew it, they were at the edge of the library. Too bad for Raven, the rock that crushed her arm came with them. She laid there, silently, out of breath, until Beast Boy and Robin ran over to her.

   "Raven!" Robin yelled. Cyborg and Starfire came next. Quickly, Robin and Beast Boy dislodged the stone off of Raven's arm. Finally getting up, with help from Cyborg, Raven stood with her friends. Unsure with herself, Raven's good hand ran over her arm that was crushed under the rock. She could still feel everything and move her arm.

   "It's not broken, thank Azarath, but it is sore." Raven said, turning back to her friends. They all nodded, happy to hear that Raven was ok. By the time they all got back to the tower, it was late. Robin and Cyborg worked up on their battle training, while Starfire had 'quality time' with Silkie, her 'bumgorf', as she calls it. Beast Boy played video games in the living room. Raven, of course, was in her room, meditating.

   "Azarath Mentrion Zinthos." Raven chanted by her window. She blinked her eyes open every now and then to see the sun setting. For an unknown reason, she teleported herself to the rooftop to meditate instead. _Just need fresh air, I guess._ Raven thought. She positioned herself and began to meditate again.

   "Azarath Mentrion Zinthos. Azarath Mentrion Zinthos. Azarath Mentrion Zinthos. Azarath Mentrion Zin-" Something cut Raven off. She turned around, expecting an intruder. Instead, it was Cyborg.

   "Hey, Cyborg. Need anything?" Raven asked.

   "Na, I just wanted to see how you were doing." Cyborg replied. When Raven looked slightly confused, Cyborg continued. "Earlier, with Slade and... and the library." Cyborg commented awkwardly. He knew how sensitive Raven was about _that_ library. Raven looked away, remembering with a pang that it was still her fault about the end of the world.

   "I'm fine." She mumbled. When she could sense Cyborg looking at her, surprised, Raven sighed. "Look, I just want you guys to-"

   "Raven, listen, no matter what happened in the past, we're all still friends, ok?" Cyborg interrupted. Raven nodded. "Now come on, Rae. BB's making waffles." With that, the two friends went inside and to the kitchen. Putting her hood down, Raven walked over to Starfire. They started to chat about different things while Beast Boy made waffles. Robin walked over to Raven and Starfire, looking vigilant.

   "We haven't seen Terra lately... but yet a lot of Slade." Robin reported. Before Robin could go on, Beast Boy called everyone to eat. _At least waffles are good. That's basically the only good thing I've heard all day._ Raven thought.

   They soon all finished off the waffles and went to bed. The first Titan up was Robin, which was usual. He was already in the control room trying to find out where Slade or Terra was. Raven soon walked in the door to find him a bit later that morning. It was already...

   "Seven A.M." Raven said to Robin. "How long have you been up anyway?"

   "Doesn't matter. We need to find Terra or Slade." Robin replied. When Raven didn't say anything else, Robin turned around to face her. "Look, Raven. Every time we faced Slade or Terra so far, everything's been going wrong for you. We'll guard you, ok? I'll tell the others later, and then, if it's fine by you, we'll keep you from them." Robin explained. "That doesn't mean you can't fight, though. Of course you can still do that. Just... be careful, please." Robin concluded. Suddenly the alarm sounded. Robin, thinking it was Slade or Terra, whipped around to the screen. Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy came out quickly. But it wasn't Slade. Or Terra! It showed that that a Titan, not from the tower, needed help.

   Robin screwed up his eyes, turned to his team, and screamed out, "Trouble!" Raven put her hood up quickly. "Titans, go!"


	10. The Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The introduction on my OC, Stephanie. This is the only OC of mine that I put years worth of work and concentration in. My other OCs aren't as detailed tbh

Chapter 9: The Rescue

     The Titans all got their winter clothes on and headed towards Kole and Gnaark's place. They had needed help as soon as possible. Getting in the T-Ship, the Titans all zoomed right into Kole's place. They all found their friends in no time, fighting off Doctor Light.

   "Who else would come looking for her?" Raven mumbled under her breath as they ran- in Starfire and Raven's case, flew- towards the fight. But for the Titans, Doctor Light was prepared. He flipped Cyborg and he crashed into Robin. Beast Boy threw him off by turning into a rhino and crashed into him. Doctor Light saw this attack and barely reacted to it, making Beast Boy off balance and head-first into a tree.

   "No one can defeat Doctor Light! No one- nuh?" Doctor Light gasped as Raven appeared from behind, letting her eyes turn white and 'tentacles' sprout from under her cloak.

   "Remember me?" Raven muttered. Doctor Light's face went horror-streaked.

   "May I go to jail now, please?" He muttered, turning around to the rest of them. Raven returned to normal, while Robin and Cyborg went over to everyone else. But Kole came over to Robin, Gnaark close by her.

   "Robin, there's something you should know," Kole began. "There was someone else down here, when we were fighting Doctor Light. She ran away when we were attacking. But before then we met right around here. Then that... that _idiot,"_ Kole pointed at Doctor Light. "came over and scared her. I haven't seen her since, but she mentioned something about dreams. Being in dreams with someone else." Kole finished. Raven stared at her. _Maybe she's the one from my dream!_ Raven thought. She stepped forward to face Kole.

   "What did she look like?" Raven asked, noticing her friends giving her awkward looks. Raven hardly ever cared about things like this, but she felt as if this was important. But all Kole did was continue.

   "Umm... she had black hair, and it was long." Kole explained. "She was about as tall as you would be."

   "Did you, by chance, catch her name?" Raven asked more quietly than a whisper. Kole shook her head no.

   "All she said was that she was lost, alone, and afraid. And she mentioned being in dreams with another person. She was describing what she saw in her dream: a person with a cloak, but then that's all she could explain before _he_ came." Kole finished explaining, glaring at Doctor Light. Before Raven could respond to anything, Beast Boy cut in.

   "Wait... a cloak?" Beast Boy asked. Kole nodded. "Raven, remember how you told me about your dream? Maybe she really is real." _If she is, I'm sorry I doubted you, Rae._ Beast Boy used telepathy. Raven was a bit surprised they could all handle it so well.

   _It's alright, Beast Boy. A dream is a dream, no matter what. But that one was for real._ Raven replied.

   "Kole, do you know which way she went?" Robin asked.

   "That way," Kole pointed to the opposite path. "That's where she ran."

   "Let's go, Titans." Robin said. Quickly they all ran, while Starfire and Raven flew. But Cyborg stopped.

   "You guys comin'?" Cyborg asked Kole and Gnaark. But Kole refused.

   "You go find whoever you need to find. This is your mission. We'll be taking Doctor Light to jail." Kole replied, keeping her eye on the criminal. Cyborg nodded and followed his team.

   "Alright, where is the girl?" Beast Boy commented. While flying by Starfire, Raven was looking ahead for any signs for the girl. Suddenly her back ached, like the time when her and Beast Boy fell into the water. But even more pain than that, she sensed the girl who she saw in her dreams. Eyes flinging wide, gasping, she let out a grunt, shut her eyes, and flew lower to the ground, finally falling. Everyone stopped.

   "Raven!" Robin screamed for her. They all crowded around her. Beast Boy and Robin propped her up. Rubbing her head, Raven opened her eyes.

   "I-I sensed that girl again. She's near." Raven explained. Starfire seamed slightly confused, so Raven explain briefly. "When we all first met, we needed to track Starfire down. I was able to sense her because she was close enough. Same goes for the girl." Raven explained. Finishing her statement, she added, "My back ached again. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because I sensed the girl. Something hit her back. That's why I had that pain." Raven went on. _Maybe I was sensing the girl even before I had that dream._ Raven thought.

   "Oh." Starfire seemed to find it interesting. "Let us go look for her now." Starfire said, flying away with the rest of the team not far behind. Raven flew back to Starfire. Raven suddenly slowed, and came to a stop. She put her hand on the top of her hood and chanted for a moment.

   "Azarath... Mentrion... Zinthos..." Raven chanted. Her eyes went open, but only to reveal glowing white.

   "Rave-"

   "She's finding the girl. Don't bother her." Robin cut Beast Boy off with a whisper. After a few moments, Raven broke contact.

   "Ah!" Raven hollered as she backed up in thin air. She gasped while holding her head.

   "No!" She screamed. Beast Boy went over to her.

   "What happened?" He asked, his eyes wide.

   "The girl- whoever she is- she's being attacked by...by..." Raven trailed off. Putting her hand on her head once more, she tracked the girl down again. Her eyes remained closed this time. A black and white demonic bird raven flew from the actual Raven, making its way to the girl. Robin stared after it while Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg went near Raven, fearing she might fall because of what she had done with her powers. Raven's mind collided with the girl's mind, making Raven see, hear, and feel everything the girl did. Raven saw a small part of long, straight blonde hair before a rock shot her in the face. The rock hit the girl's face along with Raven's, because Raven was in the girl's mind. She grunted as she was brought back to reality, her soul-self going back to her. Raven fell back, expecting to hit the ground, but instead felt the hands of her friends catch her. They put her down carefully, staring at her wide-eyed and waiting for an answer.

   "I know who's attacking her!" Raven exclaimed. "We need to go, now!" Raven panted, remembering what she had seen. The effort with her powers made her breathless.

   "Ummm, there's only one small problem." Beast Boy commented. "We don't know where she is!" He screamed out. Raven didn't listen. She knew exactly where she was.

   "Hang on." Raven said. Her eyes lit white and she teleported the Titans deeper into the forest looking place. That's where Terra was beating the girl with rocks. She was trying to block them, but they kept coming.

   "Kick my leg again, let's see what happens!" Terra screamed. She grabbed a huge boulder with her powers and lifted it right above the girl. Raven widened her eyes, and then screwed them up. _That's why I could feel pains in my back! Maybe it's the same pain from when Beast Boy and I fell into the water!_ Raven once again used telepathy.

   Wanting Terra to stop, Raven activated her powers and grabbed the rock herself. "No!" Raven screamed. She yanked it away from Terra's hold and threw it somewhere beyond the trees. The girl, who crouched down in a ball while holding her head and her eyes closed tightly, looked up. She gasped at Raven, and Raven saw excitement in her eyes. Raven was confused at this point. _Why is she...?_ Raven didn't finish her own thought by the time Terra threw another rock at her face. Grunting from the surprised impact, she fell. Starfire stared at Raven, wide-eyed, then at Terra. Anger shot through her eyes. She bolted straight at Terra, shooting starbolts. The starbolts knocked Terra down.

   "Come on!" Robin shouted at the girl. Raven was lying on the ground but lifted one arm, letting her powers swirl around the Titans and the girl. The effort was much for her, considering she had just been hit by a boulder.

   "Starfire!" Raven shouted to her best friend. "Come on!" Quickly Starfire flew over to Raven, picking up the girl on her way. When everyone was close enough to Raven, she made a circle around them all and flew them out of there. They all were right in front of the T-Ship, where Starfire put down the young girl. Instantly, she backed away, scared of them all.

   _We have to help her._ Robin used telepathy to contact Raven.

   _I know we do. And I've got an idea. Tell the rest of the team through telepathy, while I umm... try to comfort the girl. We need to know if..._ Raven replied but trailed off, paying attention to the girl. Raven walked closer towards her while the rest of the team stayed back. The girl was wearing a jacket, pants, boots and gloves. Her long, black hair was in a ponytail. Raven and the girl stood facing each other.

   "It's ok. We're heroes. We're the Teen Titans. We aren't going to hurt you, I promise." Raven whispered. The girl looked up at Raven, with caution in her eyes, but relief as well. "What's your name?" Raven prompted. But the girl refused to tell. "Ok," Raven said. "What's wrong, then? Can you tell us? Or at least me?" Raven added as she saw a doubtful look on the girls face. For the first time, the girl spoke.

   "I-I'm lost." She whimpered.

   "I know," Raven comforted her. "But we've found you. You're going to be alright. But you look familiar." Raven added, not sure how the girl would feel. "You were... you were in one of my dreams the other night. And you were staring out a window with-"

"-scratches, and staring outside, yes?" The girl interrupted. Raven was surprised.

   "So it _did_ happen?" Raven asked.

   "Yes. You're looking for me." The girl said, realizing that she can trust Raven more. Clearly, so everyone could here, she said, "My name is Stephanie. And I think you're looking for me." Adding to Raven, she turned. "I am the one from your dream."

   Everything in Raven's mind whirled. This was what she needed to know! "We would like to hear your story," Raven said. Stephanie nodded, understanding what she meant. "But..." Raven looked over to Robin.

   "We need to get home, first." Robin said. "Come on, team!"

   "What about Stephanie?" Beast Boy asked. "We all can't fit in the T-Ship!"

   "You're right, BB." Cyborg commented. "Maybe I can quickly build an extra part that can-"

   "Don't." Interrupted Raven. "I've got an idea that'll take half the time." Eyes turning white, she waited until everyone was in their seats. Raven glanced over at Stephanie. "Go." Raven said. Stephanie obeyed and climbed up into Raven's part of the T-Ship. They all closed their coverings overhead. Raven lifted the T-Ship with her powers and flew up to meet its height. She was far enough from it, but also close enough for her idea to work. _Here it goes. Let's hope this works._ Raven thought.

   "Azarath.... Mentrion.... Zinthos...." Raven chanted slowly at first. "Azarath, Mentrion, Zinthos!" She screamed the words this time. Instantly, a ball of power fluttered off the T-Ship and circled Raven and the ship itself. It circled them enough to where Raven could teleport them all back to the tower, but on the outside. The T-Ship fell gently onto the earth floor, while Raven, on the other hand, landed with a hard hit.

   "Oomph!" Raven grunted as she landed on her side. Getting up, she saw her friends and Stephanie getting out of the ship. They instantly took off their winter clothes and revealed their regular clothes. Raven tried her hardest to put the T-Ship back with her powers, making it disappear then reappear back in the basement. She then teleported the winter clothes back into each Titan’s closets. Stephanie's went into the entrance room.

   Stephanie's regular clothes shown out. She had a regular blue and black striped shirt that was long sleeved underneath her jean jacket. Her jeans looked tight on her, but they weren't. Stephanie's cute black boots were hiding under her jeans. The Titans then formed a circle around Stephanie, but she freaked out. Wide-eyed, Stephanie ran from a small opening in the circle of Titans, and hid on the side of a rock. The Titans glanced at one another until Raven whispered something.

   "You guys stay here. I might be able to convince her that we're not gonna hurt her." Raven muttered. Raven flew over to where the newcomer ran. She landed and walked over to Stephanie. Once she saw Raven, her eyes lit up and she felt more comfortable.

   "It's alright, Stephanie. We're not gonna hurt you, I promise." Raven said.

   Stephanie sighed. "I know you aren't going to hurt me, otherwise you'd do it already." She answered. "But I'm nervous around you guys. You... you're the one who brought Tri... Tri...." She trailed off.

   "Trigon?" Raven asked. Stephanie nodded.

   "You brought him here, but you saved the world... didn't you?" Stephanie asked. Raven nodded back, remembering the look on her friends' faces as she let out her white form.

   "I was a great fan of you after that. I...I didn't think I'd ever meet you." Stephanie admitted. Raven felt surprised. _I've got a fan...? Someone actually likes me?_ Raven questioned herself.

   "O-ok, but enough about me," Raven spoke. "What about you?"

   "Me?" Stephanie looked up. "I… I've got powers."

   Raven was interested immediately. "What kind of powers?" Raven prompted.

   "I can fly." Stephanie replied. She crossed her legs and lifted herself up with her levitation powers. Raven stared at her.

   "Impressive!" Raven said.

   "That's not all I can do. Watch." Stephanie continued. Stephanie's hand went blue as small circles went around them, like Raven's powers.

   "Hugh!" Stephanie shouted as she bowled the blue ball of magic towards the water. Raven's cloak wavered towards the water, along with her hood and Stephanie's hair. Raven was very impressed by this point.

   "You're good. But you need to know when to use these powers." Raven said. "Come on." Raven and Stephanie walked towards the Titans.

   "So? What does she do?" Robin asked Raven.

   "She's got powers." Raven said.

   "What kind of powers?" Robin stepped forward. Raven looked at Stephanie.

   "It's alright, you can show him." Raven whispered to Stephanie. She nodded and flew high. Everyone was impressed.

   "Whoa!" Cyborg said.

   "Dude!" Beast Boy yelled.

   "Fascinating!" Starfire gasped.

   "Cool!" Robin screamed. Raven stood there, staring at Stephanie. When she came down from flying, Stephanie looked at Raven for a sign to show her powers. Raven nodded for her to show the Titans her other powers. Quickly, Stephanie activated her powers and shoved a huge ball of blue magic into the ocean. Everyone's hair- besides Cyborg- flew the direction of the magic.

   But that wasn't all. Blue magic flew from her eyes, like how Starfire shoots green lasers from hers. Stephanie shot blue lasers, though. She looked at the Titans with fear flaming in her eyes.

   "I-I'm so sorry! I can't control that sometimes!" Stephanie shouted, terrified.

   "It's alright. Sometimes we get out of hand ourselves and have no control of our powers." Raven explained. She glanced at Robin. _Remember that time my powers were uncontrollable? When we faced Doctor Light and my 'demon-self' took over me...?_ Raven asked the Titans through telepathy.

   _As much as I can despise Doctor Light as the next person, he shouldn't have been put through that._ Robin replied. _But at the time, Trigon was trying to take over you, right?_

 _Yes, he... he was._ Raven nodded. She returned her attention back to Stephanie.

   "Re...really?" Stephanie asked, following up the statement from before Raven and Robin used telepathy.

   Raven closed her eyes and smiled. "Mmmhmm." She hummed. Raven opened her eyes again.

   "With a little more training," Robin started to say. "You can make a pretty good Titan." With that, Stephanie's mouth hung open. What could she say?

   "Stephanie?" Starfire walked over to her. "Are you... alright?" Instantly, Stephanie's dropping mouth turned into the biggest smile in the world.

   "Thank you thank you thank you!" Stephanie ran over to Raven and hugged her. Raven felt awkward.

   _I don't like being hugged._ Raven used telepathy to speak with her friends.

 _Well, Raven, you got a fan on your hands._ Robin said. Stephanie let go of Raven and turned to the team.

"Thank you!" She yelled.

"There's no promise you'll be part of the team," Robin warned.

   "Unless you've got what it takes to be a Titan." Cyborg finished.

   "You can show us all tomorrow. But right now, we gotta get to bed." Beast Boy changed the subject.

   Stephanie frowned. "I can't come in with you."

   "Of course you can," Raven said. "If you like the couch."

   "It's really comfy!" Beast Boy added with a hopeful smile. Stephanie felt convinced.

   "Ok." She said.

   "Come on, y'all." Cyborg said. Each of them followed each other inside to the living room. They each went into their rooms while Stephanie and Raven were left alone in the living room.

   "Here," Raven murmured. She left a small blanket and a pillow for her new friend. "You can sleep here for the night. If training goes well tomorrow, you might get your own room here." Raven continued. She looked a bit worried. "Do you have a home at all?" She asked.

   Stephanie looked up at Raven. "No, I just stayed in a house because my... my..." Stephanie stared down at her feet. "My parents are... dead..."

   "Like Robin." Raven whispered to herself.

   "Huh?" Stephanie glanced at Raven, confused.

   "Ah, nothing. Sorry. Go on, please." Raven said.

   "My parents died recently. I was put in a foster home," Stephanie continued. "I...I ran away months ago, only with my clothes. I found my way to... Kole, was it? And she comforted me. I told her about my weird dreams, and then that... Doctor Light... came. I ran because Kole told me to. That girl… Terra... found me and started to beat me. But when you came, Raven, I knew that... that you were the one from my dream." Stephanie finished her long explanation. Raven looked at her calmly.

   "It's alright. My mother, Arella, is in my original home. I can't really connect with her as much as I used to, because she's in Azarath." Raven explained. "My father, Trigon, is... he's... I-I never..." Raven found it hard to explain. She never had a 'normal' family. Raven swallowed. What could she say? She sighed.

   "Look, my father, Trigon, he's dead and... he wasn't really my father. I mean, he was but he- Huh?" Raven gasped as Stephanie hugged her. Again. _Please, no hugs._ Raven begged.

   "Raven, I'm so sorry about that," Stephanie said. "I'm sorry you had to go through with not having a 'normal' family." Stephanie let go of Raven. "Go get some sleep. I'll be fine." She said with a smile. Raven, feeling enlightened for the first time, smiled back. And it was a large smile.

   "Alright. Goodnight, Stephanie." Raven said. She walked out of the living room and went to her own room, leaving Stephanie in the dark. Stephanie went over to the couch, got her pillow and blanket, and fell asleep quick.

 

   The next morning, Raven was the first one up, which was unusual. She was tired, and when she checked her clock it said five in the morning. She let her head fall back as she groaned. Suddenly she remembered Stephanie, and was wide awake. Quickly grabbing her cloak, she put it on and went into the living room to check on Stephanie. By the time Raven got into the living room, Stephanie was just getting up. Raven came over to her.

   Stephanie gasped, and then settled down. "Oh, Raven! I...I thought you were someone else." Raven looked at her, confused.

   "Someone else?" Raven asked. "Who?"

   "Nothing." Stephanie said quickly. "Just, uhh... That... that other girl, Terra? I thought she was here."

   "Don't worry," Raven said. "Terra will never bother you again. Not while I'm around." Stephanie smiled at Raven.

   "Thank you." Stephanie kept smiling.

   "You're welcome. But please, no more hugs. Sorry, I'm not the 'hug' type." Raven said.

   "Ok." Stephanie said.

   "Come on, get something to eat." Raven said. When Stephanie looked unsure, Raven continued. "When was the last time you ate?"

   "Two days ago." Stephanie mumbled. Raven looked at her wide-eyed.

   "You need to eat. You're gonna starve if you don't." Raven ordered seriously. Stephanie didn't argue. They both went over to the mini-fridge in the kitchen.

   "We've got waffles." Raven said. "Hm," Raven smiled. "I remember when Cyborg got a virus and he asked me if I liked waffles. I said 'more than life itself.' I-I meant it to be sarcastic, because that's who I am. But I do really like waffles."

   "Hehehe, ok then. I'll have waffles." Stephanie giggled. Raven let Stephanie get comfy at the table in the kitchen. Stephanie sat on the outside on a stool, while Raven stood on the other side.

   "You know, I could get used to you," Raven said to Stephanie. "If all goes well today with training, then you'd be a real Tita-"

   "That's today?" Stephanie freaked.

   "Yes, it's today. Don't worry, you're gonna be fine, ok?" Raven comforted her. "You do realize that if you are going to be a Titan, you've gotta train even more?" Raven asked.

   Stephanie nodded. "Yes, I do."

"Come on, the others will be waking up soon." Raven mumbled. Stephanie finished the waffles and followed Raven out the door, calmly. Raven and her new friend went outside by the training area. Before Raven went out the door, she checked the time once again. She glanced at Stephanie, who was walking out the door, then looked back at Raven, wondering why she wouldn't follow.

   "Sorry, Stephanie. I was just checking the time," Raven said. "The others should be up soon. It's already seven." Stephanie nodded, with a small hint of fear in her eyes. _She's nervous for training._ Raven realized. They walked outside, where the light practically blinded the two girls. It was already dark inside the tower when they woke, and they had turned on no lights. Minutes later, the rest of the Titans woke up and met Raven and Stephanie outside.

   "Alright, Stephanie," Robin began. "We'll set everything up and you can show us your powers." Stephanie nodded. Raven walked over to her.

   "Are you going to be ok?" Raven asked her, barely more than a whisper for her.

   "Yeah, as long as my powers don't overload." Stephanie replied.

   The Titans got the course set up for Stephanie, while she stood there, staring at the appearing course.

   _You've got this, Stephanie._ Raven thought. When the timer started, Stephanie's eyes turned blue as she flew through the course, blocking lasers, destroying the things that nearly crushed her, everything. She landed in front of the timer when it was all done. The timer said '2:42' on it. The Titans were standing up, their mouths wide open at Stephanie's incredible powers and time. Then they all cheered for her. Even Raven smiled at Stephanie's amazing work with her powers.

   _I knew you could do it,_ Raven contacted Stephanie through telepathy. Stephanie looked at Raven as if she was crazy, and then understood.

 _Th....thank you, Raven._ Stephanie returned the telepathic thanks.

Raven nodded and they turned their attention to their friends.

"Stephanie," Robin began. "Congratulations. You're part of the team now." He reached into his belt and pulled out a Titan communicator. "Here." Robin handed Stephanie the communicator. Stephanie rejoiced.

"This.. this is like a dream come true," Stephanie mumbled. "Except this is real."

"Well," Raven started. "Let's go inside. There's something Robin wanted to show you." Raven nodded to Robin, who nodded back. "Go to Robin, and follow him where he goes. Then you'll see it."


	11. Backstories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you must have a friendship of level 17 to unlock my tragic backstory

Chapter 10: Backstories

   "Welcome to your room, Te- I-I mean, Stephanie!" Beast Boy surprised her. They were all in Terra's room, though, of course, they'd have to do remodeling for Stephanie.

   "If you want us to help you redecorate it to your likes, we can." Robin said with a smile.

   "No," Stephanie began. "It's fine. You guys have to fight crime almost every day! The room is fine the way it is." Stephanie finished with a smile.

   "Well, if you're completely sure." Robin said.

   "Totally!" Stephanie smiled. "I love the outdoors."

   "Alright, well we all need to go to the living room, because there's something Raven and Cyborg came up with earlier." Robin told the team. They all left except for Stephanie and Raven.

   "You coming?" Raven glanced back at her new teammate.

   "Can I?" Stephanie seemed unsure.

   "You're part of the team now, right? So you can. Come on, this idea is important. The rest of our friends already agreed to it." Raven explained. The two girls walked into the living room. There, the found the Titans on the sofa, looking nervous but determined. Raven and Stephanie took a seat on the couch. Robin was on the right end, with Starfire close to him. Stephanie followed up with Raven at her side. Beast Boy filled in next to Raven, with his buddy Cyborg next to him. Once everyone was settled, Cyborg began to explain.

   "Alright, y'all. Raven and I had this idea earlier, like Robin said," Cyborg began the explanation. "The idea was to share our stories, since we've been friends for a long time, but we haven't gotten to know each other completely yet. Stephanie's a new addition to the team, so we know very little about her. So we figured this would be the perfect opportunity to learn about each other. Of course, I said I would be nervous, because the only person I spoke my backstory to was Sarah."

   "Oh, you mean that one hot chick that you were flirting with when we watched those kids?" Beast Boy joked. Cyborg steamed. **(this part was from the comics! it wasn't ever shown in the actual show)**

   "No! Yes! Maybe!" Cyborg screamed, his face red.

   "Cyborg," Robin said. "It's alright. I'll... I'll be the first to admit that we've all liked someone at some point." Everyone, even Raven, nodded.

   "Let's just start this." Raven muttered. A thought came to her mind. _What will Stephanie think about my backstory..?_

   "Ok," Beast Boy began. He stood up and went to lean on the table. "I..I guess I'll start first. You know all those stories I told you guys about me turning green? How I was bitten by some radioactive space monkey?" Everyone nodded except for Stephanie. "Well, it's not true. When I was younger, I was living with my mother at the time. I was with the helpers of the Justice League. Some weird space thingies came from the sky and shot at the barn that I was hiding in. I remember flying in the air, and my mom screaming my name. Then the last thing I remembered from that day was that someone caught me in the air. Later on I remembered waking up in a bed with my mom close by me. She saw me wake and told me that this alien girl from Mars helped me. I needed some blood transfusion and the girl... Miss Martian or Megan was what they called her, saved me. She became like an adopted sister to me. After I got my powers, because Megan was a shape shifter and also green, my mother died by falling off a cliff in her car and into the water." Hints of tears followed Beast Boy's tragic past.

   "So...yeah... That was what I had to live with." Beast Boy finished. "I went to the Doom Patrol, then left when we formed the Teen Titans. You guys are more than family to me."

   "Beast Boy..." Raven whispered sympathy to him.

   "It's alright, Rave. It happened years ago." Beast Boy smiled at her. Raven settled into her seat.

   Robin stood up. "I'll go, I suppose. I've.. never really talked about this with anyone before." Robin said, walking to the table.

   "Alright, my parents died from a circus act gone wrong." Robin started. "But, well, that happened when I was nine. But since then I've been training with Batman. Y'know, before I met the Titans. But since my parents died, Batman wanted me to have a secret identity, kind of like him with the mask. So he made this mask for me. And, uh... I'm finished..." Robin stopped awkwardly. Raven could tell that there was another secret he'd been hiding, but what?

   "Maybe I should go next." Cyborg said clearly. Robin took his seat back and Cyborg stood up in front of the sofa like Robin.

   "I'm half metal, but I never used to be. I love cars and goin' fast," Cyborg started. He sighed. "But sometimes you can only go so fast before you gotta stop. Or somethin' stops you. My parents were talented with mechanical parts, and different surgeries. They repaired me with mechanical pieces. I hated what I became. So one night I ran away from my parents because I hated them for turnin' me into a monster. But I realized that they were the only ones who really understood me. That's when I saw Star's green lasers in the sky, and that big explosion. I went to see what was goin' on, and I'm glad I did, because I met you all. We understood each other, although I will say that we all have secrets." Cyborg finished, glancing at Raven. "I've felt more comfortable around you guys."

   Cyborg gave one last smile before standing straight, because he was leaning on the table, and sat back down. The Titans looked at one another before Starfire got up.

   "I....I..." Starfire seemed to find it hard to say whatever it was. "I was born after my evil sister Blackfire, and we had a little brother, Wildfire. We had to send him away for... reasons. My parents were depressed. When they saw how Blackfire truly was, they... died from the heart failure. All I had was my _knorfka,_ who took very good care of me. But the Gordanians tried enslaving me, so I escaped the ship and flew to the earth. I crashed in front of the pizza place. The... 'cuffs' on my arms kept me from many things. I believe your word is 'cuffs' for that. I am glad that I did the right thing at the right time. If I did not, we would have not formed the Teen Titans together." Starfire smiled. "And I would not have met my best friends!"

   Starfire sat back down, and, after a hesitation, Raven stood up, went to the table and looked at her friends calmly. Everyone looked at her as they waited for Raven to speak. She closed her eyes and sighed softly. Opening them again, she began to speak.

   "Starfire, you should know more about my backstory than anyone here," Raven began. "I...I was born in a place called Azarath. My mother, Arella, kept me safe from Trigon, my.. 'demon-father', so-to-speak. But.. when I turned fourteen, I sensed Trigon coming back. He was banished from Azarath when I was born but, when I sensed him, I fled to earth. I was just hiding in shadows, because I figured that's what my life would be. But when I saw Robin fighting Starfire when we all met, I thought that I might be able to help. I...I wanted to just leave after I kind of helped, because- well, it's like I said: 'Trust me, if you knew what I really am, you wouldn't want me around.' You know what I really am now, and I don't mind. Cyborg and Beast Boy have already been in my mind. Literally. Starfire is my best friend, so she knows a lot about me. Cyborg, we know each other well and we're great friends. Beast Boy, you're my boyfriend and an amazing friend to me. And Robin, I think you know me better than I know myself. All I know is, whatever happened in the past, I'm glad it happened. Every second. And.. I've... I've never said this before- I've never said anything like this before but... I...I-I love you guys as friends. Beast Boy, you're not just a friend to me. You're my boyfriend. Starfire, you're my best friend and the most fun person to be around. Cyborg, we're extremely close friends. That's enough for me, to be friends with a great person. And Robin, you know me better than anyone." Raven sighed and closed her eyes. "All I wanna say is... I'm glad we met each other. And I... I love you all. As friends. And as family."

     Raven opened her eyes and smiled slightly at the faces of her friends. She sat back down next to Beast Boy, and he snuggled Raven. _Beast Boy!_ Raven used telepathy again. She said it, though, with laughter in her voice. They all paused and looked at Stephanie, who seemed nervous at telling her story.

   _Go ahead. It's alright._ Raven comforted Stephanie. Stephanie got up and faced her new friends.

   "M-my life isn't really the best," Stephanie started. She shuffled her feet. "Before I joined the Titans, I went to a decent high school. But I kept getting bullied and teased because some idiot found out about my powers. When I came home that day, I found my whole family dead. I just packed what I needed and ran away as fast as possible. I found this foster care home where I stayed for about a week or so, but then took off again. That's when Terra almost..." Stephanie paused. "Almost killed me." Raven glanced at Beast Boy, seeing his eyes flare up.

   _Beast Boy?_ Raven used telepathy only on him. _You ok?_

 _Yea. Sorry Rave. I just hate that Terra did that to Stephanie._ Beast Boy replied. They turned their attention back to their friend.

"I saw you guys," Stephanie continued. "And I knew that you were the Titans. I've never met you in person, but I've heard of you. And I....I saw Raven in my dreams. That's why I was overly excited to see you guys." Stephanie finished her story. Raven was stunned. She couldn't believe how tragic Stephanie's past was. First, her family died, she's put in a foster home, and then she gets hurt by rocks from an enemy...

 _But she's with the Titans now. She's safe._ Raven thought. Stephanie sat back down.

"Stephanie-" Raven was cut off by the alarm. Robin rushed over to the computer to check who it was. Beast Boy followed behind. A picture popped up on the screen.

   Beast Boy growled. "Terra." Everyone went outside. Robin looked at his communicator and realized Terra was underground. He told the team, and Cyborg thought of a way they can get down there.

   "Here," Cyborg said. "I can drill a hole underground." With that, he started working on the hole. Beast Boy started to help Cyborg by digging. Starfire shot starbolts to make the hole larger for everyone to find their enemy. They soon got down and found Terra lying on the ground. Everyone got ready to attack, thinking it might be a trap set by Slade. But nothing moved. Stephanie had her powers ready, and so did the rest of the team, but they all looked at each other, confused. Suddenly, walls formed around them. Huge, crushing, metal, blue gray-ish walls trapped them. While everyone else looked around for an escape, Raven looked up, and then widened her eyes. Another wall was coming down slowly.

   "It's going to crush us," Raven whispered to herself. Making herself heard, she yelled to her teammates. "You might wanna hurry on that escape plan of yours," Raven began as she put up a force field to stop the wall from coming down. "Because this might stop us!" The Titans all looked up and saw the wall that was coming down to crush them.

   "I-I can hold it back and make it slower, but I can't stop it from coming down!" Raven shouted. Everyone searched even faster and harder so they could get out of there. Raven's force field hardly slowed the wall down. It came faster now.

   "Over here!" Stephanie yelled. There was a small place where it could easily be broken.

   "Come on y'all!" Cyborg shouted. Raven glanced over her shoulder and saw Cyborg using his built-in chainsaw to get them out of there. Giving the wall one last glance, Raven stopped making a force field and ran over to her friends. By the time they got a big enough passage for them all, the wall had already come down too far. They were all lying on the floor. Raven held it back with her powers.

   "Go!" Raven shouted to her friends.

   "No!" They all shouted.

   "We're gonna stay here with you, Rave!" Beast Boy commented. Stressed, Raven tried hard not to just shove them out the passageway.

   "Form some type of circle around each other then." Raven said. When the others looked at Raven, confused, she shut her eyes tight and forced her powers to push the wall up. "Just...Trust...Me!" Raven forced out the words. They did as Raven instructed and formed a circle around her. She put one arm on the ground and got ready to push them all out of the wall trap with her powers. Her plan was to use her powers to hit the wall and slide out of there. Eyes turning white, Raven prepared to get out of there. She glanced one more time at her force field on the wall.

   "Hang on!" Raven yelled. She shut her eyes tight, afraid of what might happen next. "Azarath Mentrion Zin-" Raven didn't finish her chant by the time they were out of there. Raven panted. They were all holding each other in protection.

   "-thos..?" Raven mumbled. They all stood up and looked around. Raven glanced at the opening they just came through. The wall had reached the ground. If they had stayed inside any longer, they would have been crushed. Still panting from the impact, Raven held Beast Boy's arm.

   "Raven," Cyborg popped up from behind. "Are you ok?"

   "Y-yeah, I'm fine." Raven replied.

   "I should have known," Beast Boy growled. "Terra obviously did this! We almost got crushed!" Wondering if Terra really did do that, or if it was Slade, Raven flew to the top of the walls. A huge boulder, bigger than a bank, was lying right on top.

     _Beast Boy, bring the others up here. There's something they should-_ Raven's telepathy got cut off when someone punched her in the face.

   "Ah!" She screamed as she fell down towards her friends again. Holding her head while getting up, Beast Boy grabbed her arm and helped her. Raven got her powers ready to activate.

   "Hey, guys. Miss me?" Terra smirked. Before anyone could react, Stephanie yelled out at Terra.

   "Stay away from my friends!" Stephanie screamed. She lunged at Terra, eyes blue, powers activated. Blue power surged at Terra. Stephanie's powers made Terra fly over the wall that had almost crushed the Titans. Everyone watched as Stephanie stared at the top of the wall, making sure Terra didn't come back. Then she turned around and faced the team. When she saw their shocked looks on their faces, her victorious face turned into a surprised one.

   "I-I hope I did alright...” Stephanie mumbled. "Or if I was supposed to…-"

   "No, no you're fine," Robin spoke. "Awesome powers. Come on; let's get back to that tunnel we dug." Soon the Titans were all at the base of the tunnel, but when they looked up, they didn't realize how far they dug.

   Raven picked up Beast Boy and flew to the top, while Starfire got Robin and flew to the top. Starfire and Raven came back for Cyborg, and then Raven went to get Stephanie.

   "Are you ok?" Raven whispered to Stephanie. She looked up at Raven.

   "Yea...no… Robin looked... scared of me..." Stephanie looked down.

   "He's just worried you'll get out of control with your powers. Don't worry, you'll be fine." Raven comforted her. "Come on; let's get back to the top." Raven and Stephanie both flew up to the top of the tunnel. Robin ordered the Titans to go inside, and they all went into their rooms except for Raven and Robin. They were in the living room, standing in the center.

   "Raven, I need to talk to you about Stephanie." Robin said. Once he said Stephanie's name, she knew what the talk was about. "Are you sure she's trustable? Can we have her on the team?" Robin asked.

   "What do you mean, 'if she's trustable'?" Raven asked, trying hard not to argue.

   "She can go overboard, like she did earlier and at training. You saw how she can't handle her powers completely. Like Terra." Robin answered. At the sound of Terra's name, Raven looked at Robin, surprised.

   "She's _nothing_ like Terra was. Sure, she's not in total control of her powers, but she's a thirteen year old girl. With more training, she'll be fine." Raven said. Robin sighed.

   "It's more than that, Raven. There's something she's not telling us. I already know." Robin responded. Raven looked at him, confused. "I've grown up knowing right from wrong." Robin answered her confusion. A thought came to Raven's dark mind.

   "You think she's working for a villain? Slade?" Raven asked. "You think she's gonna turn out like Terra, don't you?" Raven wondered, looking at Robin calmly.

   "Raven, look. I'm afraid she might be like Terra, and work for Slade; or even someone else." Robin answered.

   "I don't think Slade would know about Stephanie," Raven mumbled. "Unless Terra got to him and told him." Robin nodded thoughtfully.

   "Just watch her. Make sure she does the right thing." Robin said. Before Raven could argue, Robin continued. "I know she's younger than us, so it's more difficult for her to completely fit in with us. But, if she's fine, she'll fit in. You said it yourself when we met, Raven. You said you didn't fit in. But the team needs you. You _do_ fit in." Raven gave one last glance at Robin before speaking.

   "I'll watch her. Besides, I... I think she trusts me more than anyone else because I was able to talk to her. She didn't get... scared... like other people do when... when they see me..." Raven said, looking down.

   "Are you alright Raven?" Robin asked, putting his hand on her shoulder for comfort.

   "Yea..." Raven answered. "I, just, umm... need to meditate." That wasn't a complete lie. She _did_ need to meditate. Robin looked at Raven, unsure if she was telling the truth. Then he nodded.

   "All right. Goodnight, Raven." Robin turned and walked out the door. Raven teleported to her room. Going over to the window, she positioned herself to meditate. Chanting her usual spell, she heard a knock on the door. Walking over to the door, she looked at who it was.

   "Uhh, Raven?" Beast Boy looked embarrassed. He looked down. "I, uhh, kinda heard what you and Robin said to each other a few minutes ago..." He put his hand behind his head. Raven didn't know if she should feel shocked or angered by Beast Boy's spying. She stood there, staring at her boyfriend as if he was crazy. Then she could feel her anger overcome her shock.

   "Why?" Raven said, angry.

   "I...I...Rave...!" Beast Boy seemed upset, and Raven knew exactly why. "I turned into a fly and listened to everything. Raven, I know you're mad at me, but I just wanna say that I agree with you. Not because you're my girlfriend, but because I _know_ Stephanie is trustable." Beast Boy explained. Raven's anger soon faded, and instead she felt surprised.

   "But what about... after what happened with Terra..." Raven tried to find the right words to say.

   "Terra _chose_ to work with Slade. She _chose_ her own life. Stephanie can still make the right decisions!" Beast Boy growled. Raven looked at him.

   "Ok, but Robin still wants me to look after her; make sure she's alright for the team." Raven explained. No matter what happened, Raven had no choice. She sighed. Raven walked out of the room and next to her boyfriend.

   "Thanks for coming to talk to me, Beast Boy." Raven said. He nodded. For the first time since they've been stuck in the caves, she hugged her boyfriend.

   "No problem, Rae." Beast Boy mumbled as he hugged her back. They let go of each other. Raven backed into her room again.

   "Night, Beast Boy." Raven said.

   "Night, Raven." Beast Boy returned the saying calmly with a smile. Raven let the door slide shut before she turned to her bed. Too tired to even take her cloak off, she put down her hood and lay on her bed, putting her cloak around her. Falling asleep, she thought of random memories, until they filled her mind with darkness.

     _"No!" Raven said. She was stuck in a snowstorm, with the other Titans scattered. Luckily they had their winter clothes on this time. All they could see was blinding snow, freezing weather, and mounds of snow building up._

_"Starfire!" Raven shouted. They were close, but not close enough. She could just barely see the other Titans._

_"Raven?" Starfire screamed back. "I cannot see you!" Raven panicked. She couldn't see any of them anymore._

_"Walk towards my voice!" Robin hollered out. Raven tried to fly, but the wind was too strong. She walked as quickly as she could to Robin. She started to see the others, so she started to run. Finally, she reached her friends. They were all there, staying close together. With a closer look, Raven noticed that even Starfire had some winter clothes on. Suddenly, Cyborg let out a sigh and went to the ground._

_"Cyborg!" Robin yelled. He and the others ran over to Cyborg, then Robin went on the ground to check Cyborg. "He's fine, just cold. He passed out from the freezing weather." Robin explained. "We need to find a way out of here."_

_But sadly, one by one, the Titans fell from the cold. Beast Boy soon went down, followed by Starfire, then Stephanie. Raven and Robin stared at each other, thinking the same thing: they weren't going to make it back to the tower._

_There was a mountain filled with snow on the far side of view, and the snow was pouring down._

_"An avalanche!" Raven whispered in shock to herself. Before Robin and Raven could move, snow buried them. Wide-eyed, Raven tried to dig out of the snow, but the coldness went through her. Numb with unusual pain from the snow, she finally found Robin. She tried to dig back to the top of the snow for air, but all she could feel was the bitter cold swarming her. The snow pushed harder on her, and she could tell that the avalanche was still continuing. Raven gave up digging. She couldn't breathe, and everything went dark._

_"Stephanie!" Raven shouted with the small bubble of air that she had left. Then her senses left her, and she dissolved into darkness._

Gasping, Raven's head flew up from her pillow. Looking around, she found herself in her room. She glanced at her clock. Four in the morning. Raven panted, her dream still fresh in her mind. Sighing, she sat up in her bed.

   "I-I just need to meditate." Raven murmured. She got in her position for meditation and floated in the air, just a bit from her bed.

   "Azarath Mentrion Zinthos. Azarath Mentrion Zinthos. Azarath..." Raven continued her chant until, finally, she opened her eyes to check her clock.

   It was seven in the morning. _Did I meditate that long?_ Raven sighed. She let herself float down to her bed, and then she left her room. Raven put her hood up. She went into the living room where Beast Boy was preparing waffles.

   "Hey, Rave!" Beast Boy said. "Hungry?" Raven smiled at him and came down the short stairs. She met her boyfriend in the small kitchen.

   "Where is everybody?" Raven asked after a brief look around the room.

   "Oh, they're waking up," Beast Boy answered. Raven looked confused of how he knew. He continued. "Hehe. I kinda woke them up by sneaking in their rooms and turning into a spider. Totally scared Stephanie though. I really felt bad."

   "You idiot." Raven mutter, but smiled at him. Turning serious, she remembered her dream from early in the morning.

   "Hey, umm... Beast Boy...?" Raven asked awkwardly.

   "Yeah?"

   "Did you... did you have a weird dream last night...?" Raven tried not to sound too weird.

   "Weird how?" He asked.

   "We…we were all trapped in a snowstorm," Raven began. "And once we reached each other, we all passed out from the cold. Then an avalanche came, and-"

   "What?" Beast Boy stared at Raven. "That's the same dream I had!" He hollered.

   Raven stared back at him, then blinked. _What?_

Red lights flashed in their eyes. Starfire, Robin, Cyborg, and Stephanie dashed from their rooms.

   "Control Freak!" Robin shouted. Raven and Beast Boy ran over to their friends.

   "Cyborg," Beast Boy whispered. "I need to talk to you!"

   "Not now, B. We gotta go!" Cyborg replied.

   "Cyborg-" Beast Boy was cut off by Robin's holler.

   "Titans, go!"


	12. Suspicions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin doesn't trust the newest team member. Raven gets hella defensive.

Chapter 11: Suspicions

   The Titans zoomed outside of the tower. Beast Boy got Cyborg, while Starfire held onto Robin. Raven and Stephanie flew side by side, together. They made their way to where Control Freak was: at the bank, stealing money to fix his remote.

"Surely he's got something better to do." Raven mumbled. They all flew where he was. Robin busted the doors open to the bank. Everyone ran in after him.

   "You're going down, nerd!" Beast Boy yelled.

   "Well, well, well," Control Freak turned and stared at the Titans. "If it isn't the alien, bird boy, green dude, machine, the creepy goth chick," Control Freak looked at Stephanie. "Umm... who are you?"

   "Her name is Stephanie," Starfire said.

   "And you best be leaving her alone." Raven added. The villain chuckled. Instantly, Robin got his weapons out, Cyborg got his cannon. Beast Boy changed into a T-rex, while Starfire, Raven, and Stephanie's eyes lit their colors: green, white, and blue. Powers all activated, Robin shouted the most said line in Teen Titans history.

   "Teen Titans, go!" Robin screamed. He whacked Control Freak's hand, throwing his remote across the bank. Beast Boy swung his tail to hit the criminal. Shooting his sonic cannon, Cyborg released rocks from the ceiling and they hit Control Freak.

   _Starfire, Stephanie, listen quickly. We form a circle around Control Freak, and then we each say those words I always say, ok? It's the only way to automatically put him in jail without much trouble._ Raven contacted her friends through telepathy. Stephanie and Starfire nodded. They formed a circle around Control Freak, who was still lying on the ground and said Raven's words in turn, holding onto each other’s arms.

   "Azarath..." Raven began. Her eyes lit white.

   "Mentrion..." Starfire followed, her eyes turning green, although she had no connection to any demonic powers like Raven's.

   "Zinthos!" Stephanie hollered. The words created a portal that the villain was sent.

   "This isn't over!" He screamed while falling. "You hear me? This isn't over!" With that, the portal closed.

   "Looks pretty over to me." Raven said, crossing her arms. Suddenly feeling weak-no... _weird_ from using her powers with others, she backed a bit from her friends. She felt dizzy all of the sudden. Not able to stand straight, let alone keep her balance, she fell backwards. Starfire, Stephanie, and Robin caught her.

   "Raven?" Robin looked at her. "Are you ok?"

   "Yeah... Sorry, I...I'm just not used to sharing my powers like that..." Raven explained. When the other Titans still looked unsure, Raven glanced helplessly at them.

   "Side-effects...?" She shrugged. Raven didn't know how else to put it. Starfire and Stephanie pulled Raven up by her arms, while Robin tried to grab her back to he could help her.

   "Thanks." Raven looked at her friends, rubbing her head. She could tell by their faces that they were remembering what she had said when they shared their backstories. Remembering her dream, thinking there wouldn't be another perfect time to explain, she asked if they had the dream too.

   "Hey, uhh... Did... Did you guys have some dream with a snowstorm, an avalanche, and things like that...?" Raven asked awkwardly. Cyborg and Robin glanced at each other, while Starfire and Stephanie nodded.

   "I'm just gonna say, you did have the dream." Raven muttered sarcastically.

   "Come on, let's get back to the tower." Robin said clearly. They all flew to the tower and into the living room to discuss the dream.

   "So... Did you guys have the same dream? With the snowstorm and the avalanche?" Raven asked once they were all settled on the sofa. Robin was the first to speak.

   "I did," He said. "I had the dream. I was trying to call out to you guys... But my voice sounded... cracked." Robin seemed confused.

"I tried to come to you guys," Cyborg commented next. "But when I got there, I just seemed so... cold... all of the sudden."

   "I, too, did just that," Starfire remarked. "We all came to Robin."

   Beast Boy and Stephanie nodded, obviously having the same thoughts on it. Raven stared at them all, bewildered. _How could we all have the same dream?_ Raven thought.

   "Maybe we should get some rest," Robin suggested. "Then we can discuss the dream fully tomorrow."

 

   It had been three days since the Titans all had that dream. They had finally discussed the dream together, and said that it was nothing. But 'nothing' could always mean 'something'. Cyborg had built another spot in the T-Ship for Stephanie, and fixed up their transport machines to fit her. They had then been called out for a mission to find Kole, because she wanted the Titans help to repair something. They agreed to help her and Gnaark, but they had to go into a snowstorm. So soon after the dream, the Titans didn't like the sound of that. But soon they were all flying towards their friends' place. They parked the T-Ship, and jumped out. But before they could look around, Starfire screamed. Raven whipped around, only to see a horror that she only knew in her dreams. An avalanche was aiming straight for them. Raven stared at it, wide-eyed and unblinking. Everyone else ran.

   "Raven?" Beast Boy hollered.

   "Raven!" Robin shouted for her, wide-eyed. He tried to run to her, to take her out of the way from the snow pouring down to meet her. But Starfire was quicker. She flew fast towards her friend, grabbed her arm, and flew back to the remaining Titans. Starfire let Raven's arm go, so she could stand with the others. Raven hardly had reacted to Starfire's rescue. The only thing she could look at right at that moment was the mound of snow flowing toward them.

   "Run," Robin said, his voice cracked. Clearing it, he screamed out one last time. "Run!" Raven felt her feet back up, but she didn't break eye contact with the avalanche.

   "Raven!" Stephanie hollered out.

   "What are you doin'?" Cyborg screamed.

   "Run!" Beast Boy shouted. By then Raven was standing right under a wave of snow that the avalanche created. Wide-eyed, shaking and terrified, Raven flew straight towards her friends, which were a little way away from her. She shot a glance at Starfire, who nodded, wide-eyed, with understanding. Quickly, Starfire held onto Robin, while Beast Boy, as always, got Cyborg. Raven flew over to pick Stephanie up by her arms and zipped fast to catch up to her friends.

   "I can fly myself." Stephanie said awkwardly, and Raven could tell she didn't want to start arguing with a Titan.

   Raven stared straight ahead. "No. There's no way you're flying by yourself." Raven stated. Before Stephanie could argue more, Raven went on. "Look, I _know_ you can fly yourself, but I'm... I don't want to risk or lose anything."

   _I don't want to lose_ you _..._ Raven said to Stephanie through telepathy. Stephanie looked up at Raven, sympathy and sadness in her eyes.

   _I understand._ Stephanie replied, saying nothing more. Raven smiled at her, and then they both stared after their friends. Finally they could hear the rumble of the flooding snow fade behind them. They all turned around, only to see that the avalanche had stopped completely. They let each other fall to the ground, and they stared at the piled up snow. Everyone stared, panting, wide-eyed with shock. Just then, Raven realized how cold she was. She glanced around at her friends, and noticed they were shivering. Not just from the cold, but from their dream... _becoming reality._ Raven stared around, and then rested her gaze on Starfire. She was shivering more than anyone, but from the cold and shock of the avalanche.

   Everyone turned to Starfire when she grunted. Starfire's eyes slowly closed as she fell into the snow. Robin ran over to her, wide-eyed.

   "Starfire!" Robin screamed. He tried to pick her up, but all she did was mumble his name, then pass out from coldness.

   "Robin," Cyborg whispered to Robin. "We need to get out of here. I'll carry Star, but we need to get goin'." Robin nodded, and then carefully handed Starfire to Cyborg. Raven, Stephanie, and Beast Boy glanced at each other, thinking the same thing: they _have_ to find Kole.

   "The T-Ship's got a frozen engine," Cyborg explained, as though he was reading the thoughts of his friends. "So we can't use that."

   "We've gotta find Kole!" Beast Boy screamed above the snow and the wind.

   "And we'll do that," Robin said. "Come on!" They all started to run at first, but grew tired quickly. Cyborg panted from carrying Starfire. They came to a stop on a small, snowy hill. Raven turned around to face Cyborg.

   "I...I might be able to... y'know... wake her up, or something." Raven said awkwardly. When the others looked at her, confused, Raven sighed. "I'll be able to use my powers to help her warm up." Raven explained briefly. Robin was the first to speak up.

   "It could work," He said. "Go ahead, Raven. Try it."

"Yeah, let's see what you can do." Beast Boy smiled at her. Raven glanced at Stephanie.

   _Stephanie, listen,_ Raven began her telepathy. _I know what I'm about to do. My energy and warmth will go to Starfire. And I...I'll be freezing. I'll take her place, in a sense. But please, you have to use your powers and strike them at me. It just might give me enough energy to save Starfire. We'll never make it to Kole's place in time to help her._ Raven explained. Stephanie eyes were wide.

   _I'll do it, if it means saving my two best friends._ Stephanie said. Raven felt a slight smile build up for Stephanie. She quickly made it vanish and focused on Starfire.

   "What I'm about to do is going to affect me, a lot more than you'll ever know." Raven said. Her eyes lit white as she chanted her spell.

   "Azarath Mentrion Zinthos!" Raven said in a casual tone. Suddenly her power went to Starfire, warming her. _Helping_ her. Raven started to feel her warmth fade, her energy vanishing. Her legs shook. She felt her power draining. She was becoming weaker with every small dot of power she gave to save her friend.

   "Raven, no!" Beast Boy screamed.

   "I have to do it, Beast Boy!" Raven shouted back. "It's for Starfire...!"

   "She's right," Robin whispered to the green boy. "It's the only way. Kole's place is too far right now. We'd never make it."

   "But Raven-" Beast Boy tried to protest, but Raven heard enough.

   Smashing her eyes shut, she screamed for Stephanie. "Stephanie, now!" Raven shouted. Terrified, Stephanie blazed her blue powers to Raven. Raven grunted with pain as new power surged through her. With the last bit of energy, and the bit of power Stephanie gave her, Raven let it soar over to Starfire. Finally, the power vanished from her hands. Her eyes were no longer white. Eyes slowly closing, she fell sideways, landing on her side, panting. Raven was gasping for air, but only coldness reached her, which made her feel weaker with every breath she took. She sensed Beast Boy and Stephanie run over to her.

   "Raven?" Stephanie whispered, shocked. It sounded as if she was very upset at the way this had all ended. "Please, wake up."

   Raven, still panting, mumbled, "I'm... alright... Stepha...Stephanie..." Suddenly, she remembered Starfire. "Is...Star...fire...alr...alright...?"

   "She's fine, Raven," Beast Boy answered her question. "She's waking up now."

   Cyborg had put Starfire down, knowing she was warm and strong enough to walk. He quickly went over to Raven and grabbed her arm. She stood up with his help, but instantly fell back down when he let her go. Her legs still shook, her arms numb. She could barely feel anything. The cold collided with the exhaustion from Raven and made her whole body numb. She couldn't even feel the snow.

   "I...I-I can't-" Raven stammered.

   "I know," Cyborg commented. "I'll carry you. It's fine." Weakly, still panting, Raven nodded. Cyborg grabbed her and carefully held onto her when they were walking.

   "We need to find shelter!" Robin's voice hollered through the wind.

   "Kole!" Stephanie had finally spoken an idea to the Titans. “Remember? We were on our way to help Kole. If we can find her, then she can help us!”

   “Stephanie’s right,” Cyborg commented, keeping an eye on Raven. “If we can find Kole, she’ll be able to help Raven.”

   “Then we gotta find her!” Beast Boy yelled, his eyes wide. Stephanie and Starfire flew together, while Beast Boy got Cyborg and flew with him. Starfire grabbed Robin and flew by Stephanie. Cyborg glanced down at Raven, who he was still holding, and mumbled something to her.

   “Rae?” Cyborg whispered. “You ok?” Raven could barely see him, and not just because of the wind and snow. She was weak still, and cold.

“Y…yes.” Raven lied. She wasn’t ok! In fact, she had grown so weak that she had stopped shivering from the cold. Instead, she lay there in Cyborg's arms, barely moving. But she kept her eyes open, just barely, though, so she could still tell Cyborg that she’s alright. Mostly.

   “Raven,” Cyborg said seriously. “You’re not ok. You gave your energy to Starfire, and now look at you! You’re freezin'.” Before Raven could reply, he went on. “We’re tryin’ to find Kole so we can get you safe.” Raven realized that arguing was pointless; her friends were trying to save her life! Unable to say anything, she nodded slightly. When she nodded, pain from the cold flowed onto her neck. Coldness overwhelmed her when she breathed. Even when she moved slightly, the wintery weather made her colder. From what seemed like years, they finally found their way to Kole’s place. Kole and Gnaark were waiting for the Titans at the entrance to their home. When they saw them looking sad and serious, Kole asked what happened.

   Robin gave an explanation of why they were late and what had happened. Horrified, Kole offered some shelter to her friends.

   “Quick,” Kole said. “In here!” Everyone ran inside Kole’s home. They stopped when Kole and Gnaark did: right in their home. When Kole saw Raven, passed out from the cold, she had no idea how to help her. Stephanie looked at Raven, thinking desperately for an idea. Suddenly, her face turned bright. The other Titans had taken their winter clothes off to reveal their regular ones.

“Wait!” She jumped up. “I’ve got it!” She stood in front of Cyborg, who was still holding Raven carefully, and closed her eyes. Stephanie opened her eyes, and they lit blue. Her powers activated. She shot her powers at Raven, concentrating hard. Although Raven was passed out, she grunted slightly from her friend's power. Stephanie's idea?

   “I...I’m giving Raven some energy through power. It won’t warm her, but she’ll be able to heal herself afterwards!” Stephanie shouted. After a few moments, Raven opened her eyes slightly. Stephanie had stopped her powers when Raven woke; her eyes were no longer blue.

   “Raven?” Stephanie asked, unsure if her power had helped her. “Are you…?”

   “Ok?” Raven answered softly. “Yeah, I-I’m fine.” _Thank you, Stephanie._ Raven thanked her through telepathy.

   _I’m just glad you’re better. A-and that my idea worked._ Stephanie replied, smiling. Raven said nothing else, but she looked at Starfire, who was near her with wide eyes.

   “Are _you_ ok?” Raven asked her, remembering the last time she actually saw Starfire. Still wide-eyed, the only thing Starfire did was nod.

   “I am alright, Raven,” Starfire spoke a few moments after the question was asked. “But what about you? Are you alright?”

   _Do I look alright?_ Raven thought, though she answered, “Yes, I’m fine.” Cyborg put Raven down, but still held onto her arm, just in case she fell again. He was right. Raven still wasn’t strong enough to stand on her own. She fell backwards, but Cyborg pulled her back up.

   Cyborg glanced at Kole. "She needs some help. Anythin' you guys can do?"

   "We can build a fire so she can warm up," Kole suggested. "And you guys need to warm up, too. You're all freezing!"

   The Titans, with the help of Kole and Gnaark, built a fire with sticks and stones; they put logs big enough to sit on close to the sticks. Cyborg hadn't helped out until they put the logs down. Then he put Raven down on a log, and started the fire. She sat close to it so she could be warmer, and Cyborg sat next to her.

   "You doin' ok?" Cyborg asked, throwing another stick to build the fire.

   "Once I'm not as cold, then yeah. I'll be fine." Raven smiled slightly at him. Cyborg smiled back.

   "Look, Rave," He began seriously. "Are you _sure_ you're feelin' ok? I mean, you gave Star everything to save her, and the way Stephanie blasted you with that power... Didn't it hurt?" Cyborg asked. Raven nodded.

   "I said that I knew what I was doing," Raven started. "I really did. I knew that I would get hurt. But I didn't really expect _that_ much pain." Raven admitted. She closed her eyes, letting her head drop to face the floor. Her eyes opened again, wider this time, and shot her head up towards Cyborg; he had put his hand on her shoulder and smiled at her.

   "I get it, Rae," Cyborg said. "It's alright now. Starfire and Stephanie are fine, and you just need to warm up. The important thing is, we're all together, not lost in the snowstorm. And we're all ok." He finished. Raven looked at him and smiled slightly.

   "Thanks, Cy." Raven said, getting up and turning away.

   "Wait, 'Cy'?" Cyborg asked. Raven glanced back at him.

   "Come on, you guys saved my life. Multiple times, I should add! What's wrong with calling you 'Cy'?" Raven said, still smiling at him. Suddenly, her eyes went wide, staring at something behind Cyborg.

   "Tell them everything," A black, shadowy figure said. The voice was deep, and Raven didn't recall ever seeing this person- or figure- before. "Tell them your secrets. Tell them your life. Or I will." The figure continued. Raven stiffened. She blinked, and it was gone.

   "Raven?" Cyborg asked, looking behind himself, then back at his teammate. "What's wrong?" Unable to get the figure out of her head, she looked at Cyborg, and then at the place she saw the shadow. Placing her hand on her head, she closed her eyes.

   "I-it was nothing," Raven mumbled. She opened her eyes and took her hand off her head. "Just, umm, I-I thought I saw something... move... over there." _Tell_ who _my secrets...?_ What _secrets?_ Raven thought. _My friends...?_ Raven realized. She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice Cyborg look at her.

   "Raven?" Cyborg said. She glanced at her friend, and then looked down at the ground, holding one arm with her hand.

   "I-I..." Raven faltered. What could she say? "There was a-"

   "I'm not askin' all that, Raven," Cyborg interrupted. "I just wanna know if you're alright."

   Raven stared at him, and then finally answered his concern. "Yeah... I-I'm fine." She stammered. Suddenly, an idea popped in her head. "Listen, I-I wanted to talk to Beast Boy about something." Raven said, slowly backing away.

   "Um, ok." Cyborg replied awkwardly. "Wait, Rave?" Cyborg stopped her. Raven stiffened. "Stay here, I'll get BB. You're still cold." He added before Raven could protest. Raven walked back over by the fading fire.

   "Alright," She said. "But just get him, and nothing else." Cyborg nodded, and ran off to find his friend. Raven sat back down, staring at the fire in front of her. The fire turned black, and the figure was back.

   "You must tell them your secrets; your life. Or I will. You have a chance," The figure warned. "You will have the chance to tell them at the right moment. But wait longer than that, and I will tell them. Personally." With that, the darkness vanished. Raven stared at the last drops of shadow. Flames arose from the sticks, startling Raven. She heard a branch move, and Beast Boy walked to her.

   "Hey Rav." He said. "You doing ok? Cyborg told me you wanted me for something."

   "Uh, yeah," Raven felt awkward. "I, umm... Kinda wanted to know something." Beast Boy looked worried.

   "It doesn't involve Canada, does it?" He asked. Raven stared at him like he was crazy.

   "No, although I don't _want_ to know why you'd ask about Canada," Raven said. "Uh, anyway, I was wondering if... you still had feelings for Terra." Raven asked awkwardly. Immediately, Beast Boy flared up defensively.

   "No way, Raven!" Beast Boy flared. "I don't like Terra anymore! She betrayed us when she chose to work with Slade."

   "Beast Boy, don't lie to me." Raven said. "It's alright if you do still have a few feelings for her. I don't care, honestly."

   Beast Boy relaxed a bit. "Ok," He said. "I admit it. I have a few feelings for her. But I love you more, Raven! You're better than she is! She devoted her life for Slade. You devoted yours for the Titans." Beast Boy argued.

   "Beast Boy," Raven began. "It's alright. Don't get all defensive. I don't care, ok?" Beast Boy smiled. They snuggled together, shivering not just from the cold, but from the newly found warmth that flooded them.

 

   _"Raven!" Voices flooded Raven as she heard what seemed like the whole team shouting her name. She turned, expecting the team behind her. But all she saw was the darkness that has been haunting her._

_"Hm hm hm..." It giggled. Raven knew what it was going to do._

_"No!" Raven screamed, flying over to shoot the shadow with her powers. The shadow obviously knew this, because he pushed Raven back hard. “Ah!” She screamed as she rolled on the ground, panting from the impact. Raven stared desperately at her friends._

_"Raven," The shadow started. "Has many difficulties in her life. But her secret must be revealed. She has been-"_

"No!" Raven gasped and flung her head up. "Gah!" Next thing she knew, Raven was face first on the floor. She had fallen asleep on one of the logs at Kole's place. Glancing around, she saw her team sitting upright on each log, talking to each other. Kole and Gnaark were sitting together by the fire. Beast Boy and Cyborg sat next to each other opposite of Kole and Gnaark. Across from Raven, Robin and Starfire sat close to each other. Stephanie was putting a few more sticks into the fire.

   "Hey, Raven," Robin said. "You ok?" Raven's only response was a nod. She finally spoke when everyone gave her weird looks.

   "I-it was just a bad dream." Raven answered, looking at the ground.

   _Raven, are you sure?_ Beast Boy contacted her.

   _Beast Boy, I...I might tell you later, but for now, it's more of a... personal... thing._ Raven responded. He nodded, understanding. Raven stood up for a moment then sat back down on the log. Stephanie came over and sat next to her, throwing a small twig into the fire.

   "Hey, Rave," Stephanie said, smiling. "Are you sure you're alright? I mean, you've been acting weird lately." Stephanie broke a small twig off of the log and threw it into the fire.

   "I'm fine." Raven answered, staring at the fading fire. Stephanie glanced blankly at her, then back at the fire.

   "I'll get more sticks." Stephanie said, getting up and walking into the trees. Robin broke a small branch off his log and tossed it into the fire. It hadn't even been five minutes yet, and Raven heard someone scream. She flung her head up, her eyes wide and staring at her friends.

   "Did you guys hear that?" Raven blurted out. Her friends looked at her, wide-eyed, and nodded.

   "Hey, didn't Stephanie go out to find more sticks?" Kole stood up. Raven's eyes widened.

   "No." She breathed. Instantly, Raven jumped from the log and flew through the trees. Raven came to an open space, and saw Stephanie, beaten up and lying on the ground, unconscious. Terra was by her, smiling with determination.

   Stephanie, although unconscious, mumbled, "Please... Stop..." Terra paid no attention. She kicked Stephanie, and she rolled towards a small tar pit.

   Terra spoke, even though it was obvious she knew Stephanie was unconscious. "You took my place," Terra began. "You _stole_ my place with the Titans. I could've got back in. But nope!" She began imitating Robin. "'Here, let's take a completely unknown girl, and _outsider_ , to join the team! Terra had to do training, but let's take an _inexperienced thirteen year old girl_ to automatically join!' Raven and Robin never trusted me. _Never!_ But they put their trust in a _worthless little girl!_ " Terra kicked Stephanie closer to the tar pit. By then, the rest of the team, with Kole and Gnaark, had caught up with Raven.

   Terra put her leg back far. "Guess you'll never get to say goodbye." Terra shrugged. She got ready to kick Stephanie again, but Raven was quicker.

   "Leave her alone!" Raven screamed. She flew to the two girls, shooting dust from the ground on either side of her. Using her powers, Raven shoved Terra away. Suddenly, Raven felt herself losing energy, and getting colder. _No..._ Raven thought. She forced her powers to work; to stay strong. Not just for Stephanie, but for the whole team. The rest of her friends ran over and surrounded her. Cyborg glanced at Stephanie and ran to pick her up. Stephanie moaned, and then fell back unconscious.

   "Cyborg, Gnaark," Robin instructed. "Go take Stephanie to Kole's place. Kole, you better go with them." Robin added. The three Titans nodded as they ran off. Everyone activated their powers, and Robin got his weapons ready. Terra made rocks rumble from the ground. Starfire and Raven shot their powers at Terra and her floating rocks. But Terra fought back. She used her powers to hit both girls, but only fell on one: Raven. Her eyes widened at the yellow power surging at her.

   “Ahh!” Raven screamed as she rolled and toppled over until she was right under her friends.

   “Raven!” Beast Boy yelled. Raven held her arm, balancing herself on her hurt arm. With the help of her boyfriend, Raven got back up, and prepared to fight Terra. Despite all the energy and warmth she had lost yet again, Raven stood strong. Terra obviously realized she was surrounded, so she took off on rocks. Raven held her hurt arm, trying to heal it. But she fell to her knees, luckily not passing out or anything like she has before.

   The others crowded her. "Stephanie?" Raven mumbled the question.

   "Raven?" Robin looked at her. "What's wrong?" Raven glanced up at him.

   "Stephanie. Where is she?" Raven spoke clearly this time.

   "Cyborg took her with Kole and Gnaark." Beast Boy explained. Raven sighed with relief. Starfire flew back over to her friends.

   “Raven?" Starfire said, looking at her friend.

   “I’m fine, Star,” Raven mumbled. “Just... cold again.” Raven was able to get back up and she glanced at Robin. He nodded. Raven got her powers ready, making sure ahead of time that Terra wasn’t anywhere near. Though she still held onto her arm, trying to heal it, she made a circle of black magic around the Titans, then teleported them all to Kole’s place, where Kole, Gnaark, and Cyborg were waiting. They had built the fire back up and Cyborg put Stephanie down on one of the logs.

   “Raven,” Cyborg came over to her when the others went in Kole’s home to talk. “Do you think you can heal her?” Raven nodded.

   “I can try.” She said. She walked over to Stephanie, and then got down on the ground to focus. Her hand turned ice blue as she put it on Stephanie. Raven focused as she searched for anything that could have hurt Stephanie, besides Terra. Stephanie stirred. Raven, distracted, broke off the healing process. Stephanie was still unconscious, but she kept mumbling something.

   “Stephanie?” Raven whispered. She leaned closer to Stephanie’s face to hear what she was mumbling. When Raven finally understood her, her eyes went wide.

   _“Please don’t kill me…”_


	13. Trust

Chapter 12: Trust

   Raven and Cyborg stared at each other in horror. Stephanie whimpered, and Raven turned to face her. She saw that her right arm was broken from one of Terra’s massive kicks. Raven tried her best to heal it, but as much as she could heal Stephanie, she knew that broken arms, legs, anything else that can break, had to be healed on its own. Raven healed her as much as she could, and after that, Stephanie was on her own. Her eyes were still wide as she turned to face Cyborg again.

   “We can’t let Terra get to her again!” Raven said, horrified. “It’s obvious that Terra’s out to get her for whatever reason.”

   “I know, Rave,” Cyborg said, coming over by her. “But it’s alright. We’ll find out what Terra wants with Stephanie-“

   “And we _will_ take her down.” Robin came up behind Cyborg. Surprised, the two turned around. “But first-“

   “We have to make sure Stephanie’s ok!” Beast Boy followed up. “Oh, yeah. Terra is _so_ goin’ down this time! And if-“

   “She hurts any of you, she will get the beating.” Starfire bust in. “Terra-“

   “ _Won’t_ hurt any of you.” Kole came in beside Gnaark. “As long as Terra’s down here, she has no idea what place this is. Gnaark and I know best.”

   “Gnaark!” Gnaark said. Raven glanced at her friends, then back at Stephanie. Stephanie stirred, and then whimpered. Raven tried to heal her arm again, but all it did was wash out most of the pain. Still keeping her hand on Stephanie’s arm, she turned back to her friends.

   “You got anything that matches up with a cast?” Raven asked Kole.

   “Sorry, we don’t.” Kole responded. “But we can use huge leaves and wrap her arm up.” She suggested hopefully.

   “That might work,” Robin said. Raven nodded, hoping with all the power of Azarath it would work. Stephanie whimpered again, quieter this time. Raven turned to her. She realized that Stephanie was in so much pain, she could barely show it. Raven put her hand out to heal Stephanie’s pain in her arm.

   She turned back to Kole. “Hurry,” Raven said. “She’s gotten beat up too much. She needs help!” Kole and Gnaark nodded and headed off to find leaves. Robin went over to Raven and sat next to her.

   “She’ll be fine,” Robin advised. “I know she will.” Raven glanced up at him, and then looked back at Stephanie.

   “I hope you’re right.” Raven mumbled. Robin put his hand on her shoulder.

   “Raven, Kole and Gnaark are getting leaves for a cast. You’re healing her. She _will_ be alright.” Robin comforted her. The bushes moved behind them. The team turned their heads around, only to see Kole and Gnaark coming back with leaves for Stephanie. Kole handed hers to Raven, and Kole grabbed Gnaark’s leaves and held them in case Raven needed more. Raven was able to carefully wrap the leaves around Stephanie’s arm. She glanced at Kole, and Kole handed her more leaves. She quickly wrapped up Stephanie’s arm even more. The leaves settled in and hardened on Stephanie’s broken arm. It luckily kept her arm in place, so it worked just like a cast.

   Stephanie moved. Her eyes opened slowly, revealing her blue eyes. She blinked. “Don’t hurt me…” Stephanie murmured. “Please don’t hurt me…” Raven reached over and used her healing powers on Stephanie’s head this time.

   “What happened to her?” Robin asked.

   “She’s terrified of Terra so much that she thinks she’s still there.” Raven explained. “It’s like when ‘Slade’s daughter’ came along and messed with Chang. He was scared out of his mind. Stephanie’s like that, too.” Raven finished. The Titans looked at one another, worrying about how Raven would be able to keep healing their friend.

   “Get some sleep,” Raven told the others. “I wanna make sure Stephanie’s alright. And I don’t want Terra coming back again either.” Raven added.

   “Raven’s right,” Cyborg said. “We need to go to sleep. Come on, y’all.” Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Gnaark all went into the bushes to Kole’s place. Kole and Robin hung back.

   “If you need anything,” Kole began. “I’m always on the other side of these bushes.” With that, Kole went into the bushes to follow her friends. Robin still hung back.

   “I’m staying with you.” Robin said, walking over to Raven.

   “No, you need sleep.” Raven argued.

   “I’m staying here.” Robin repeated. “If Terra comes back, you can’t deal with her on your own.” Raven realized he did have a point.

   “Alright,” Raven glanced at him. “But if you get tired, get some sleep.” Robin nodded. He started to break off sticks on the logs to keep the fire going.

   “Has Beast Boy ever been to Canada?” Raven asked him, focusing on healing Stephanie.

   “Uh, no… Why?” Robin asked, confused.

   “I-uhh, he-he brought it up earlier. I wanted to talk to him about something, and he asked if it involved Canada.” Raven rolled her eyes.

   “Heh. Well, that’s Beast Boy.” Robin smiled. He went around all the logs to collect sticks, while Raven was losing her energy. She was becoming tired, and she could tell it was very late at night- maybe around two in the morning?

   A hand touched her shoulder. Throwing her head up, her eyes wide, she realized Robin had sat with her. “Raven?” He asked. “You were shivering. And half asleep.” He added.

   “I’m fine…” Raven said drowsily. Robin looked at Raven, knowing she wasn’t alright. She sighed. “Ok, ok. I’m tired, losing energy again, getting colder, and trying to heal Stephanie.” Raven stared at the ground. “So, I guess I’m not alright.” Raven said. “I-Gah!” She broke off as her arm started to pour with pain. Unfortunately, it was the one she was healing Stephanie with. She held it with her other hand. When the long pain passed, Raven glanced up at Robin.

   “I-I’ve been healing her for too long.” Raven’s voice was barely a whisper. “The pain in my arm is what happens when I heal someone- or myself- too long.” She explained. Raven took her hand off of Stephanie, and then rubbed her arm.

   “You just need some sleep.” Robin said. “I think you’ve healed her enough that you can sleep for a while.” They two teammates got up and went over to separate logs. Robin fell asleep quickly, though Raven stayed up. She couldn’t feel part of her arm anymore, so it was awkward to find a sleeping position. But soon enough, sleep overcame her, and she was engulfed by pitch black, shadowy darkness that reminded her of the dreadful figure that haunted her.

 

   Someone was prodding Raven on the shoulder. She opened her eyes, only to see Robin trying to wake her up. She sat up, yawned shortly, and then asked what time it was.

   “Uhh, about three in the morning, I would say. And, uhh, sorry for waking you up.” Robin answered. Raven wanted to fling her head back and fall asleep again, but she wanted to ask Robin why he was up this early.

   “Why are you up anyway?” Raven asked calmly. “I thought you wanted some sleep?”

   “It’s Stephanie,” Robin said. Raven was wide awake now. “She kept moaning, and saying something, but I can’t understand what it is.” Raven got up and walked over to Stephanie, who was still sleeping but mumbling too. She got down on her knees to find out what her friend was saying. Robin followed behind her and sat next to her. Raven listened carefully, and then turned to Robin.

   “She keeps saying, ‘please stop’, and ‘please don’t hurt me’.” Raven murmured.

   “How long is she going to go on like this?” Robin said. Raven shrugged.

   “I-I’ll stay up and watch her,” Raven said. “You can go back to sleep. I doubt anyone else is up this early.”

   “Uh, no.” Robin argued. “Remember what I said? If Terra comes back? If Stephanie somehow gets hurt? Or you?” Raven sighed and nodded. Robin got up and started to build the fire back up. Raven tried to heal Stephanie again, but she knew that it just erases the pain for a few hours. She healed her as much as possible, then she leaned up against the log. Robin sat next to her, throwing the last stick in the fire. Raven put her head back on the log, close to Stephanie's head, and stared up at the ice covered sky. Her vision started to fade, and she realized she was falling asleep. Whether she wanted to sleep or not, Robin nudged her on her arm. Raven jolted awake.

   "Sorry," Raven apologized. "I'm just tired..."

   "I know," Robin said. "Go ahead; get some sleep. I'll watch Stephanie." Raven thanked him and went over to a log to sleep. A moment later, she blinked open her eyes, only to realize that it was still early. Raven snatched out her communicator and checked the time. The clock on the top said '3:15 A.M.'. She shut it and put it back. Raven glanced over to where she last saw Robin and Stephanie. Robin had kept his promise and stayed up to watch Stephanie.

   "You could've slept a little, you know," Raven smiled, getting up.

   "I keep my promises," Robin smiled back. "Go back to sleep, Raven. It's fine." But Raven shook her head.

   "I'll stay up," Raven said. "Besides, I need to meditate." Raven knew that Robin couldn't argue about that. She positioned herself and floated in the air. Eyes closed, she started to chant.

   "Azarath Mentrion Zinthos. Azarath Mentrion Zinthos. Azarath... Mentrion Zin...Zin..." Raven held onto her head. "Can't meditate." Raven mumbled half to herself without taking her hand off her head or opening her eyes. She returned to standing, but she didn't stay up very long. Raven fell forward, but she caught herself on one arm. Robin ran over to her.

   "Raven!" Robin breathed. "Are you ok?" He grabbed Raven's arm and put it around his neck. Raven opened her eyes at Robin, nervous.

   "Robin..." Raven mumbled, but because she was exhausted, she could barely speak. She felt Robin hold onto her side and start walking slowly.

   "Raven, try and walk." He advised. Raven tried, but tiredness hit her, and she couldn't.

   "Raven!"

   "Robin," Raven whispered seriously. "I'm fine." She breathed heavily, and she knew that Robin suspected there was something wrong with her.

   "No you're not. I'm going to get Kole. I’m definitely not leaving you by yourself, either!" Robin responded. _But you'll leave Stephanie alone back there?_ Raven thought. Without waiting for another argument, Robin took Raven and ran to Kole's place. Robin was able to wake Kole, but by the time she got up, Raven was already passed out.

   "She's fine, just tired." Kole explained. "Put her back on one of the logs. She'll be fine. And don't wake her for a while, either." Kole added. Robin tried to walk the best he could while awkwardly dragging Raven. By the time they emerged the bushes, Raven grunted slightly and fell to the ground, bringing Robin with her. He picked Raven back up by her arm. Robin put her arm around his neck and held onto her side. Carefully, he put her down on a log, where she lay there, unmoving, but breathing. Kole came in with Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Gnaark at her side.

   "Two Titans passed out," Robin mumbled to himself. "One, exhausted, and the other, beaten up." Before anyone could react or do anything, Stephanie stirred. Slowly, she sat up, rubbing her head.

   "Ohh... It feels like I died three times like Stevie Rae did in the House of Night series..." Stephanie said. Opening her eyes, she saw the Titans staring at her. Then they glanced at Raven. Stephanie looked at Raven, then at Robin.

   "What happened to her?" She asked.

   "She stayed up all night watching over you," Robin explained, and Stephanie thought that she heard a hint of accusation in his voice. "She was too exhausted, and she passed out." Stephanie nodded.

   "Maybe I can-"

   "Steph, look," Beast Boy came out from the crowd. "Raven needs some sleep. She's been up for over twenty hours, and only fell asleep once for a few minutes. That's not really normal for her."

   "Alright." Stephanie said, sitting up. She glanced at Raven one more time, and saw her move. Raven blinked open her eyes, then glanced around. She slowly got up, finally standing. Once she saw Stephanie, she smiled slightly.

   "You're alright." Raven mumbled.

   "Broken arm," Stephanie replied. "But I'm fine." A moment's pause, then she added, "Are _you_ alright?"

   "I... was just tired." Raven said, glancing at Robin. _I wasn't exactly fully asleep. I heard you just now, Robin._ Raven thought to herself.

   "Get some more sleep," Robin said. "You need it." Robin added before Raven could protest. She nodded, but before she could say or do anything, light struck her. Raven grunted as she was pushed back towards the bushes. Beast Boy ran over to her, trying to help her up. She held herself up with one hand, and curled the other around her stomach, where the blast of light had hit her. She and Beast Boy tried standing up, but Raven instantly fell back down. Thin yellow outlines surrounded Raven, and she was floating in the air.

   "You Titans weren't expecting this, were you?" A deep voice popped out. Doctor Light came out from behind the team and walked towards Raven. He reached one hand out towards Raven. "I've gained a new power with my suit," Doctor Light began. "I can drain energy _and_ power easily." He finished with an evil laughter. _Wow, perfect. Just my luck, he gained that stupid power!_ Raven tried to break free of his hold, but couldn't.

   "Let her go!" Stephanie screamed. Her eyes turned blue and she shot blue power at Doctor Light with her one good hand. He moved at the last moment.

   "Well, it seems like you've got powers, also," He said, interested. "I'll just take you, too!" Yellow outlines went around Stephanie as she was flown by Raven.

   "Titans, g-" Robin broke off as Doctor Light interrupted.

   "If you want me to drain their power and energy, then I wouldn't do that." Doctor Light warned. He let the two girls go and they fell to the floor. They got up and had their powers activated. But the villain had other ideas. He made a light bubble appear around the girls, draining their energy and power. Raven instantly fell to the floor, keeping one hand on the ground to balance herself. Stephanie weakly ran to Raven, only to fall next to her. She grabbed Raven's arm and put it around her neck. Standing up, she tried to keep her balance, but Raven was losing more energy than her friend was. Unfortunately, they both fell again. Raven looked desperately at her friends for anything they could do. Robin obviously got the message, because he nodded to Gnaark and Cyborg. Cyborg ran to Doctor light and tried to fight him alongside Gnaark. It didn't end well.

   While the Titans were fighting the criminal, Raven and Stephanie were losing strength. Raven could barely hold herself up anymore. Stephanie was already lying on the ground. Raven let herself fall to the ground, glancing around the bubble. She noticed it beginning to dissolve a bit. Glancing at the Titans, she realized they were fighting Doctor Light to his limits. He was being defeated. She noticed that Stephanie had moved closer to her. Glancing at her trapped friend, Stephanie pushed her good arm on the floor to help her up.

   "Stephanie?" Raven murmured.

   "Forgive me, Raven." Stephanie mumbled.

   "Wha-?" Raven's confusion was cut off when Stephanie’s eyes lit bright blue and she kicked her out of the bubble with her foot. Raven bounced and rolled away from the bubble, grunting with pain from every impact. When she was far enough, Raven stared at Stephanie as if she went crazy.

    "We've lost you too many times, Raven! I-I'm not taking that risk again!" Stephanie hollered. Robin and Starfire were helping Raven up. _Do you trust her now?_ Raven thought, glancing at Robin.

   "I've gotta get her," Raven mumbled. "She... she's dying in there..." Raven tried to walk to the trapped girl, but instantly fell. Robin and Starfire got her up again.

   "Raven, you can't get her," Robin said seriously. "You've barely slept in the past twenty-four hours! That bubble just drained almost everything you've got: your powers, your energy, your strength!" Raven couldn't argue.

   "Robin, I..." Raven could barely speak, though she forced herself to keep going. "Stephanie... She's..." Raven gasped for breath. The impact from the kick still left her out of breath. "She kicked me out of that thing. With me out, the shock is going towards her alone. It's... It's draining her power... It's a bigger impact on her. And it's not gonna stop. Robin, pl-" Raven gasped for breath again. "Please... She's dying in that thing... Get her..." Raven forced the last words out. Robin looked from Raven to Stephanie, deciding what to do. But Raven had enough. Despite losing her energy and strength, she flared up inside.

   "Robin, I don't care if you trust her or not," Raven said, her voice fading. She felt exhausted, and she almost fell, but Starfire held onto her. "She's dying. She needs us now..." Robin stared at Starfire and Raven for a moment longer. _"Go."_ Raven ordered him. Robin realized he had no other choice. Raven stared at him, eyes flaring. Robin ran towards Stephanie to get her out. Now, Raven's eyes weren't flaring with fire. Instead, they closed. She fell to the ground, Starfire following. Raven held herself up with both of her hands, while Starfire held onto her sides to make sure she didn't collapse.

   "Raven?" Starfire's concern reached her.

   "I-I'm alright, Star..." Raven barely opened her eyes to glance at Robin. He had done as much as he could, but couldn't get Stephanie out. She heard a grunting sound from Doctor Light. Looking over, Starfire and Raven both saw that he was on the ground, defeated. The light bubble faded away, leaving Stephanie lying there, unmoving.

   Raven tried to get up but Starfire held her down. "Raven," Starfire started. "You are not strong enough to help her. You must let Robin do this. She will be alright." Starfire comforted Raven. The two girls stood up while Robin was carrying Stephanie bridal style.

   "Cyborg!" Robin called out. "Take Stephanie; Beast Boy, Starfire, help Raven. We need to get in Kole's place." He nodded towards Kole, who nodded back, eyes wide with understanding. Cyborg picked up Stephanie from Robin, and Beast Boy helped Starfire with Raven. Once they all reached Kole's place, they found Kole and Gnaark making spare beds for Raven and Stephanie. Beast Boy and Starfire both laid Raven down on one, while Cyborg carefully put Stephanie on the other.

     "Raven," Robin began. "You need sleep. I don't wanna argue with you, but you've _got_ to sleep." He added before Raven could protest. She sighed, closed her eyes and nodded. It didn't take long for Raven to fall asleep. The last thing she heard was Robin asking if the team could check over her and Stephanie for anything that might be wrong.

 

Raven's eyes blinked open only to reveal daylight. She propped her head up and looked around her room. But it wasn't her room. It was Kole's place. _Right, we're still here._ Raven realized. She turned her head to face the ceiling, only to see Robin standing over her.

   "Once you're awake enough," Robin whispered, casting a small glance at Stephanie, who was still asleep. "I wanted to talk to you about something." Raven sat up, squinting her eyes against the blinding light that washed into the stick-made room. Robin went out of the room to give Raven a few minutes to wake up. Once Raven felt more woken up, she followed Robin outside, where he was waiting.

   "Yeah?" Raven mumbled.

   "You know how Stephanie has blue powers, right?" Robin asked. Raven's attention flickered.

   "What about it?"

   "Was she the one who threw the blue sticky ball at you and your boyf- Beast Boy?" Robin stopped himself from saying 'boyfriend.' Raven didn't care if he said it or not, so she didn't know why he cut himself off. But the question confused her.

   "I'm not sure," Raven replied. "It could've been. But if it was, why did she join the team?"

   "She may be like Terra." Robin observed. Raven stared at him.

   "I already told you, she's nothing like Terra was." Raven argued. "Stephanie-"

   "Raven, I just-" Robin's protest was cut short when Stephanie walked out of the opening.

   "What year is it?" Stephanie mumbled while yawning. Raven shot Robin a glance.

   _We'll talk later._ Raven said. Robin nodded, knowing that this was a talk for another time. He left to go wake the rest of the team. Raven glanced at Stephanie.

     "What was all that about?" Stephanie asked, stifling a yawn.

   "Uhh... Just, well... did you happen to throw a blue ball towards me and Beast Boy a few weeks ago when we were flying in the air?" Raven asked calmly. "We, umm... Almost drowned."

   Stephanie looked surprised. Then her face turned serious. "Robin. He doesn't trust me, does he?" Stephanie looked away, sadly. Raven stared at her.

   "No, no." Raven replied quickly. "He was just thinking about it. It confused me, too." Stephanie looked back at Raven.

   "Well, then," Stephanie thought for a moment to remember. "I don't remember even seeing you- any of you- until recently." She responded. "So someone else did it."

   Raven nodded thoughtfully. _If she didn't, who did?_ Stephanie glanced at Raven a moment longer, and then went to walk away, but Raven stopped her. "W-wait! Stephanie!" Raven said. She wanted to talk with Stephanie more. Stephanie turned around to face Raven.

   "Yeah?" Stephanie walked back to Raven.

   "Uhh, how long were you running from... from Terra?" Raven wasn't sure how the mention of Terra's name would affect Stephanie.

   "Terra...?" Stephanie mumbled. "She's... been after me- for whatever reason- chasing me, and beating me. When I found Kole, I was lucky to get away for a few moments, but Doctor Light came and... and..." Stephanie trailed off, tears streaming down her face. She looked away, trying to hide the tears. She glanced up at Raven, only to see a concerned look in her eyes. Quickly, Stephanie looked away.

   "I-I-I'm sorry..." Stephanie mumbled. _Oh, Stephanie, is there anything we can do to help you with Terra?_ Raven thought desperately.

   "It's alright," Raven stepped closer to her. "Look, I... I don't usually do this but..." Raven's voice stopped. She sighed. Taking a step forward, she hugged Stephanie in a small attempt to put her worries aside. Stephanie was taken aback, but hugged Raven too. "We'll fix this, alright?" Raven spoke softly. "We will- _I_ will- make sure Terra never messes with you again, ok?" Stephanie nodded.

   "Thank you." Stephanie said shakily.

   "Nobody hears about this, ok?" Raven whispered, letting Stephanie go, and vice versa.

   "A-alright." Stephanie said, smiling at Raven. Slightly embarrassed, Stephanie wiped her tears off her face.

   Beast Boy emerged through the bushes and ran up to the two girls. "Raven," He started. "Robin wanted to see you." He glanced back at the bushes where Robin was waiting. Raven nodded and flew over to him.

   "Raven, listen," Robin felt uneasy. "I... Stephanie. Are you completely sure she's trustable?" Raven stared at him, stunned. _Why does he keep asking this?_

   "Robin, she risked her _life_ for us-for me!" Raven forced her voice to a whisper. "She almost _died_ for us, Robin. Her arm is broke, and we _both_ almost died in that bubble! She risked herself for me... She pushed me out of there. And you _still_ don't trust her." Raven closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them, feeling them flare with a burning fire that she found familiar yet distant. "Do you trust her now?" Wanting no answer, Raven turned to walk back to Stephanie and Beast Boy. They both looked at her, and Raven knew that her eyes were still flaring with fire.

   "Raven?" Beast Boy mumbled. Raven just looked away.

   "Sorry." Raven glanced back at her friends. "I just-"

   "Hello, Raven." A voice popped behind Beast Boy and Stephanie. Raven stared at it, wide-eyed. "I don't think you've heard my name yet," The shadow continued. "My name is Eclipse. And I am about to reveal your secret."

   "Leave them out of this!" Raven screwed up her eyes.

   "No." Eclipse said. "I will, only if you want me to reveal your secret."

   "Don't." Raven said flatly. "Give me more time. More time for a chance!"

   "Fine," Eclipse said after hesitation. "But wait longer, and I will tell them." The shadow vanished in a second.

   "Raven?" Beast Boy looked behind him and back at his girlfriend. "What's wrong?"

   "N-nothing. Just... I thought I saw something move over there." Raven lied.

   "Raven." Stephanie looked at her seriously.

   "I already said that I'll tell Beast Boy about it later," Raven replied calmly. "So I'll tell you later, too." Stephanie nodded.

   "I just remembered something..." Stephanie mumbled, looking away at the floor. "What's today?" She said, looking back to her friends.

   "It's August 26th," Beast Boy answered, looking at his communicator. "Of, uhh, 2007."

   "It is?" Stephanie's eyes went wide. "Sweet!"

   "Why so jumpy?" Raven asked.

   Stephanie faced her, smiling, eyes sparkling, and said, "Today's my birthday!" Beast Boy wished her a happy birthday, but Raven's face darkened. _Don't let hers turn out like mine did._ Raven hoped. Stephanie saw her and frowned.

   "Raven?" Stephanie seemed concerned. Raven looked at her friend.

   "I-I..." She didn't know what to say. Raven sighed. "Look, I just don't want you to have a birthday like I did."

   "Oh." Stephanie understood. Beast Boy still smiled as he backed up.

   "I gotta tell Cy about this." He ran off.

   "About what?" Raven hollered to him.

   "Stephanie's birthday!" Beast Boy yelled before he vanished into the bushes.

   "Come on," Raven said, turning and walking towards the bushes. Stephanie followed, but Raven stopped. "Happy birthday." Raven said, smiling slightly. Stephanie looked up.

   "Thanks." Stephanie smiled. They both flew to the bushes and through them. When Robin saw them, he quickly ran over to them both.

   "Hey, Stephanie," He began. Raven shot him a warning glance not to repeat any conversations that they had to Stephanie. Robin nodded slightly, understanding. "I know it's your birthday and all, but we gotta head home." Stephanie nodded. The team surrounded the three friends.

   "Let's go home." Robin said.

 

   At the tower, after a long ride home, the Titans celebrated Stephanie's birthday. Starfire and Raven talked over by the side-sofa for a bit, while Cyborg and Beast Boy 'tried' to prepare food. Starfire's glorg didn't work out too well for Stephanie. Raven didn't even try to make anything. She wasn't really an expert for cooking. Robin had smiled when she declined cooking, obviously remembering 'the end of the world' when Raven 'made' pancakes.

   "Stephanie?" Robin walked over to her. "I was just wondering, how old are you now?"

   "Uh, four-fourteen." Stephanie answered, looking surprised that Robin, out of all people, had asked. Raven knew why. _She knows Robin doesn't fully trust Stephanie. But she was edgy telling him. Is she lying...?_ Raven thought as Starfire began to talk about Tamaran. Raven actually was surprised that there were so many differences to Tamaran than on Earth.

   "Did you ever go to school?" Robin asked. Stephanie looked taken aback. Then she looked down, shook her head, and mumbled, "No." Raven glanced back at the two. Then she turned back to Starfire. Starfire stopped talking and looked at Raven.

   "Look, Star, I-I'd love to hear what... 'Flarnop' means, but-" Raven was cut off.

   "Yes, you may speak with them." Starfire smiled and nodded. "Perhaps I may tell you about the Great Flarnop later?" Raven nodded. Walking over to Robin and the birthday girl, Starfire and Raven broke into their conversation.

   "So, Robin," Raven began awkwardly. "Uh, do you like waffles...?" Raven made an awkward face. Robin looked at her as if Raven was insane. Then he stared at her, knowing that Raven was trying to knock him out of the conversation. Stephanie glanced up at Raven, then at Robin.

   "Uhh, I-I'll be right back." Stephanie fake smiled and walked to the door. Raven and Starfire glanced at each other, and then Raven flew towards Stephanie. By the time Raven got to her, Stephanie was halfway down the hallway.

   "Stephanie, wait!" Raven kept her voice low. Stephanie stopped and turned to face Raven.

   "Hmm?"

   "Look, if it's gonna bother you, stop me now. But why were you so upset when Robin asked if you've ever been to school?" Raven asked her. Stephanie stared at her for a moment.

   "I...I've been to school," Stephanie began, holding her gaze with Raven's. "But... I was always getting bullied because I had powers. The others were jealous of me. But I didn't let them stop me. Although, they did. Eventually, I just started to skip school. And I guess you know how it went afterwards." Stephanie added. _I'm being torn apart right now..._ Raven thought, unable to explain or think of the right things.

   "Stephanie, that was the past." Raven said. "Right now, you're fine, ok?"

   Stephanie looked at Raven. "Look, I...I never had any friends in school. Nobody ever came up to me and just, I don't know, spent time with me." Stephanie explained. Raven stared at her.

   "Steph, that doesn’t matter anymore. We're your friends. Your _real_ friends." Raven smiled. Stephanie's eyes lit up.

   "Thanks, Rae." Stephanie said.

   "Really, it's no big deal." Raven insisted. "Come on, go have fun. I'll talk to Robin." Raven added. Stephanie and Raven walked side by side back into the living room. They glanced at each other as the door slid open, then slid shut.

   "I...I'll go talk to Robin," Raven mumbled. Stephanie nodded and went to talk with Starfire.

   "Robin." Raven walked over to him. "Talk. Now." She kept walking until she reached the huge window. Robin followed.

   "Yeah?"

   "If you can't trust Stephanie, then test her! Make her train more, or something!" Raven said. "Just do something to satisfy you."

   "Yo!" Beast Boy hollered. "Movie night, anyone?" He went over to the coffee table and picked up a movie.

   "Oh, yes me please!" Starfire yelled.

   "I'm up for it!" Stephanie chimed in.

   "I got popcorn." Cyborg said, taking the food away from the microwave.

   "Sure." Raven called.

   "Ok." Robin shrugged. They all sat on the sofa in a certain order: Robin on the right side, with Starfire snuggled with him. Cyborg kept his distance and sat in the middle, accompanied by Stephanie, who sat next to him. _Cyborg and Stephanie are sure getting close._ Raven thought. Raven and Beast Boy snuggled with each other on the far left of the couch. Cyborg grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. Clicking play, they sat back and enjoyed the movie.

 

     After a while, the Titans got tired and went to bed. But Raven didn't. She went out into the city for a bit. But over the water, something blue hit her.

   It was that blue, sticky ball again. Raven's eyes went wide.

   She tried to break free, but every movement was wasted. Right before she dived into the water, she took a gasp for breath. The ball evaporated quickly, like last time, but Raven couldn't swim back up. The impact took her breath away.

   Suddenly, arms grabbed hers and pulled her up. Before she knew it she was on the shore of the Titans tower.

   "Are you _crazy?_ "

   Raven coughed. "St-Stephanie?" Raven asked.

   "What were you doing out there?" Stephanie was wide-eyed with concern. "You coulda got yourself killed!" Raven looked up at her. The moon was already shining, making Stephanie's hair turn silver.

   Raven stood up, coughed again, then answered, "I-I'll explain. Let's just get home." Raven and Stephanie flew side by side, up to the roof. They walked inside the tower through a door from the roof. Stephanie and Raven walked down a hallway for a few minutes together, and then crossed to their own rooms.

     Just then did she realize she forgot to tell Stephanie why she was out.


	14. Surprises

Chapter 13: Surprises

   "Alright, Stephanie, ready?" Robin called out. He had put the training course up for Stephanie outside.

   "Ready." Stephanie yelled back.

   "Go!"

   Stephanie flew quickly through the course, blocking and shooting power at certain obstacles. Just when she was at the end of the course, a laser hit her on the side.

   "Gah!"

   Stephanie's scream was loud enough to wake Raven up. Eyes flinging wide, she jumped out of bed, put on her cloak and raced outside. She found Robin holding Stephanie's side, with her good arm around his neck. His eyes were wide.

   "What happened?" Raven asked, her eyes wide and staring at Robin.

"She got hurt during training." Robin explained briefly.

"Hurt during...?" Raven looked from Robin to Stephanie. "But she... You were... Did you...?" Raven trailed off. She didn't know if Robin did this or not. Robin sighed and looked down at the ground.

   "Yeah. I set the course up for her. But I didn't know she would get hit!" Robin looked back up.

   "Yeah. Y-yeah ok, uhh..." Raven mumbled. "Let's just take her to the medical room." Robin nodded and followed Raven into the room.

   When they reached the room, Robin put Stephanie onto one of the beds. While he set the things up to make sure she's alright, Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy came rushing in.

   "Y'all ok?" Cyborg asked. Raven turned and nodded calmly.

   "Yeah. We're fine. But Stephanie isn't." Robin explained.

   Suddenly, Raven's eyes went wide.

   "Raven?" Starfire asked, concerned. Raven's eyes flashed red as she saw a vision of Trigon's face. "Why are your eyes...?" Raven barely heard Starfire.

   "You are part of me, as I am part of you. _Forever_..." The vision of Trigon said.

   "Dude!" Beast Boy stepped forward with his eyes wide.

   "You ok?" Cyborg said.

   "Raven!" Robin ran over to her. "Your eyes are... Red..." He seemed surprised. Raven hardly heard him, although she could tell that Robin had whispered. The vision of her demon father didn't go away. She felt herself start to fall.

   Raven blinked rapidly to make the vision go away. After a few blinks, the vision left her. Her eyes returned to normal, but she continued to fall down. Robin grabbed one of her arms, but it didn't help much. Realizing she was back into reality, Raven's eyes went wide.

   And then she hit her face on the floor.

   "Ah!" She screamed. "Ouch..."

   "Oops." Robin murmured. Raven held herself up with one hand, while Robin pulled her up.

   "Are you alright?" Starfire's eyes were wide with concern.

   "Y-yeah... I think..." Raven answered.

   “Are you certain?” Starfire asked.

   “Really, Star, I’m alright.” Raven assured her. Before anyone could say anything more, Raven teleported herself to her room. _What does this mean?_ She thought. She went over to a door, and, opening it slowly, she chanted a rare spell she uses.

   “Azarath Mentrion Zinthos...Carazon Rakashas Enderez...Vaserix Endrien Azararth...Azarath, Azarath!” With that, she was at her home place- Azarath.

   She quickly flew up to her mother’s home, where she was feeding birds.

   Looking up, Arella, Raven’s mother, had surprise in her eyes. “Raven?”

   “Arella!” Raven whispered. “I-I-I don’t know what’s going on. Minutes ago I had a vision where I saw Trigon, and my friends said my eyes turned red!” Raven’s eyes were wide. “What does it mean?”

   “Oh, dear Raven,” Arella petted a pigeon that was resting on her arm. “You know that even though Trigon is dead, he is still a part of you.”

   “I know…” Raven mumbled, looking at the ground. “That’s exactly what he said in my vision. He said, ‘ _You are part of me, as I am part of you. Forever..._ ’ And his face just appeared right in front of me. It wasn’t until I felt light-headed and fell back that the vision left me.” Raven looked back up at her mother. “Please, tell me what this means.”

   “It means you are having trouble accepting that most of your annoyance, anger, and part of the Trigon that lives within you are gone.” Arella explained.

   “So… I’m just having trouble adjusting to Trigon not controlling me?” Raven asked. Arella nodded.

   "But... That doesn't explain why I had a vision of him." Raven protested.

   "I believe your friends may be able to help." Arella slightly smiled. Raven nodded, flying away. Teleporting, she found herself in her room. _I have to find them!_

Quickly, she ran into the medical room where she last saw her friends. Luckily, they were all still there.

   Beast Boy turned around. "Raven!" He screamed. "You ok?" Raven nodded.

   "Raven," Robin walked over. Soon the whole team, besides Stephanie, surrounded Raven. "Talk." Remembering her mother's words, Raven sighed and explained.

   "I-I saw a vision of... of Trigon." Raven closed her eyes, but remembered instantly the eyes of her father. Quickly, she opened them. "Afterwards I went to Azarath to talk with Arella. She said that I'm just having trouble adjusting to not having Trigon with me. I asked her why I had that vision, but she said it'd be best to talk with you guys." Raven finished.

   Robin looked thoughtfully for a moment, and then said, "We'll discuss it tomorrow. Let's get some sleep. Besides, maybe we shouldn't discuss it right away."

   As the boys left the room, Starfire and Raven stayed.

   "Raven?" Starfire looked at her friend. "Are you not going to the sleep?"

   "I...I wanted to stay here and watch Stephanie." Raven explained. Starfire smiled, understanding.

   "Perhaps I can accompany you?" Starfire suggested. Raven smiled, only slightly, and nodded. They walked over to Stephanie, where she was still knocked out, and stood there, watching the stats.

   Suddenly, the glass on the window to the side broke as a figure jumped in. Wide-eyed, taking a step backwards, Starfire and Raven both stared at the intruder. It opened one eye, but only one. Raven knew who it was. The one eye, the orange glow, the armor. It was all clear.

   "Slade." Raven muttered under her breath. Raven and Starfire screwed up their eyes.

   "Whatever you want, you are not getting it!" Starfire screamed.

   _Hello?_ A voice reached Raven's mind. And by the looks of it, Starfire heard it, too. Both of the girls held their heads and fell to their knees. Slade saw his chance and threw something at the girls. It tied them up together, back to back. But the girls stood up right before the weapon hit them. Slade half squinted his eye, and then turned to Stephanie. He started to walk over to her. Raven's eyes went wide.

   "Don't touch her!" She forced the words out. The thing that wrapped around Starfire and Raven was tight. Slade must've pressed a button, because there was a shock that went through the object, shocking the girls. They both fell back onto the floor, grunting, blue waves of shock wrapping around them.

   "Oh, but I need her." Slade mumbled. Without another word, he grabbed Stephanie and dragged her out the window. At the same moment, Robin, along with Beast Boy and Cyborg, ran into the room.

   _Can you hear me?_ Came the voice. Raven's head buzzed. What was that? _Who_ was that? Robin ran over to the girls, but Raven barely shook her head 'no'. They were still being shocked.

   "That's. It." Raven mumbled to herself. Her eyes turned white and she tore up the shocking wire. Starfire and Raven were finally free.

   "What happened?" Robin asked.

   "Slade happened." Raven answered. "He threw this thing at us and took Stephanie." Raven expected Robin to just forget about it, since he didn't trust Stephanie. But he stood his ground.

   "We'll find him." Robin promised. The two girls stood up, facing the team. Raven just stared at him.

   "Raven, we'll find him." Robin repeated. Raven nodded. She knew that if Robin promised something, he kept that promise.

   _Hello?_ The voice called in Raven's mind. This time, everyone held their heads, falling to the floor. Suddenly, Raven realized that it was telepathy.

   _Who are you?_ Raven contacted the mysterious voice.

   _My name is M'g-_ The voice cut off.

   _MG?_ Raven thought. _Who's MG? What does that even stand for?_

"Did anyone else here that?" Beast Boy said. They all looked at Beast Boy.

   "Why would we _not_ here that?" Raven asked sarcastically.

   "I can track Stephanie," Robin said, whipping out his communicator. "It'll take a minute, though."

   "She's near." Raven said clearly. Everyone stared at her.

   "I can sense things." Raven mumbled. But the Titans gave confused faces. "Please don't tell me you forgot that I can sense things."

   "Uh, yeah, anyway," Robin flustered. "She's close, but moving fast. Titans, go!"

   _Can you hear me at all?_ Asked the voice again. _My name is M'gaan!_

   "What?" Raven mumbled to herself. _Where have I heard that name?_

   "You ok?" Robin whispered to Raven.

   "No. This... this girl is trying to contact me by using telepathy." Raven explained quietly to Robin. "She said her name's... M'gaan." Raven heard M'gaan trying to contact her again, but failed. Instead, Raven held her head while falling to the floor, her head buzzing. Beast Boy ran over.

   "Raven!" The green teenager said. He and Robin helped Raven up. Raven, still holding onto her head, explained.

   "M-M'gaan's trying to contact me." Raven said.

   "Megan?" Beast Boy echoed. Raven shook her head, trying to clear it.

   "We've gotta find Stephanie!"

 

   The Titans had found Stephanie with Slade in his lair. She was passed out on the floor; Slade stared at the entrance.

   "You're too late, Titans. She's unconscious." Slade chuckled.

   _Who are you?_ M'gaan said.

   _Raven. But I can't talk right- Ah!_ Slade had shot at Raven when she tried to reply through telepathy. She quickly recovered and stood back up.

   "What are you planning?" Robin faced Slade.

   "Nothing." Answered Slade. "Nothing at all."

   "Then what are you doing with Stephanie?" Raven challenged.

   "Oh, that." Slade glanced at Stephanie. "I built a new machine to drain power." Raven's eyes widened. "I am draining your little friend's power right now!"

   _Raven, was it? Are you ok?_ M'gaan called through the telepathy. Raven ignored it. The last time she answered to M'gaan, Slade had attacked her.

   "Titans, go!" Robin shouted. At once everyone was trying to fight Slade. Powers and weapons crashed into their enemy. But he was prepared. He blocked the attacks by using the power he drained from Stephanie. Slade shot back at them, taking out Cyborg. Before Slade could strike again, Raven made a force field around the Titans.

   "Any plans?" Raven asked, struggling to keep the force field up. She could feel Slade hitting it with massive amounts of power he stole from Stephanie.

   "I've got one." Cyborg walked over to the team after getting up. "Alright..." He described the plan softly, but he hurried, noticing Raven's force field disappearing. Raven tried her best to keep it up, but it didn't work. Slade was throwing more and more power until, finally, the force field gave way.

   "Go!" Cyborg shouted. Starfire and Raven held back, going with the plan Cyborg had described. Robin and Cyborg ran forward, getting ready to do the Sonic Boom that they had once did in their first crime-fight. Slade prepared for this move, as he's seen it before. But Robin switched up with Beast Boy. The green boy turned into a small dinosaur and attacked Slade while Cyborg shot at him. Robin threw weapons at the villain. Just like planned, Slade hadn't had enough. The three boys stood in a line in front of Slade.

   Raven and Starfire glanced at each other, and then smiled menacingly. The girls held out one arm and grabbed the others arm. They flew up to the air together, and then activated their powers. Turning in circles, sideways, until their powers collided, they shot at Slade. Once Slade was lying face-first on the ground, unconscious, Cyborg ran over to Stephanie and picked her up. Right when he did, Stephanie slightly opened her eyes.

   "Cy...Cyborg...?" Stephanie mumbled. "Why do I feel like...?" Raven knew what she wanted to say. Stephanie was drained of her powers. It would take some time for her to heal back up.

   Beast Boy stepped in. "Your powers were drained by Slade." He explained. "He was able to build some weird machine and drain powers." Suddenly, a laser zapped across the room at Robin. It put a red shine over him, trapping him. The thing took away his energy quickly. It zapped at Starfire, then Cyborg, Stephanie, and Beast Boy. Raven tried to take out the traps, but it zapped her, too.

   The traps took away the Titans' energy and powers. Raven lay there, completely still, but awake. She had barely heard it, but she knew someone was talking. Trying her best to listen, she realized what the person said.

   "We need to disable the laser and help them." Someone said.

   "Just attack the lasers, then the force fields!" An aggressive person said.

   "No!" A girl’s voice exclaimed this time. "We can't hurt them!" _M'gaan...?_

   "Perhaps we can figure out a plan?" A deep voice argued.

   A different girl sighed. "Wally, you know what to do." Before she knew it, Raven's trap that shocked her was gone. So was everyone else's. Slowly, each Titan got up; Cyborg helped Stephanie up. They stared at the people who just rescued them.

   A fast boy- who just saved the Titans lives- zoomed over to one of the broken lasers, picked it up, and ran over to the girl in a green outfit.

   "Souvenir!" He exclaimed.

   "I'm guessing you're one of the good guys," Robin cut in. "Considering you just saved our lives."

   "Wait a minute..." Beast Boy whispered. He looked at a green girl. "M'gaan?"

   "Garfield?" M'gaan asked. They hugged each other, and then stood there, staring at each other with huge smiles.

   "Your name is seriously Garfield?" Raven asked. Beast Boy looked slightly embarrassed.

   Robin went over to the leader of the apparent team. "So... Who are you guys?" He asked.

   "I'm Robin. But my real name is Dick." He said. Robin stared at the other Robin in surprise.

   "Uh... _I'm_ Robin." Robin whispered. They stared at each other.

   Each of them took a turn at names.

   "Artemis."

   "Kid Flash. Hey, you're cute." Kid Flash went up to Starfire.

   "Um, thank you...?" Starfire's reply was awkward.

   "Aqualad."

   "Miss Martian. But you can call me M'gaan or Megan."

   "Superboy." The strong boy looked away.

   "And I'm Robin." Dick said. "But my real name is Dick! Just, uhh, call me that, since you have your own Robin." He added.

   "Alright then," Robin said. "Well, I guess you know I'm Robin."

   "I am Starfire of Tamaran."

   "Cyborg."

   "You guys know me right?" Beast Boy asked. "It's me, Beast Boy! Garfield!" Everyone nodded.

   "Raven."

   "Stephanie." She said shyly.

   M'gaan looked around from one team to the other. Dick looked at Robin, and then walked over to him to chat. Each of the members did the same. Cyborg went with Aqualad and Superboy, while Kid Flash went with Beast Boy. Starfire, M'gaan, Artemis, Stephanie and Raven gathered together to talk with each other.

   Starfire and Stephanie talked with Artemis after a while, and Raven and M'gaan talked.

   "Yes, I'm from Mars," M'gaan was saying to Raven. "I helped Beast Boy out. And we're kind of half-brother half-sister, now." M'gaan added.

   "Neat." Raven said. She felt awkward saying it, but she spoke clear, "We're kind of dating now..."

   "Awesome!" M'gaan said.

   "Yeah, well..." Raven glanced at the floor. "So, uhh, you're the one who tried to contact me using telepathy?" Raven asked, changing the subject.

   "Yes, and I'm sorry..." M'gaan turned serious.

   "Sorry for what?" Raven asked.

   "That I used telepathy at the wrong time." M'gaan answered.

   "Not your fault." Raven said quickly.

   "If I would have waited a bit longer-"

   "M'gaan, not your fault." Raven looked at her seriously. "You couldn't have known that we were fighting. It was bad timing, that's all."

   "Bad timing twice, apparently." M'gaan still looked at the floor.

   "Megan!" Raven whispered fiercely. "Stop blaming yourself for this. It wasn't your fault, ok? You and your team rescued us minutes ago!"

   "What does that have to do with anything?" M'gaan finally looked up.

   "It means that even if it would've been your fault- which it isn't- you would have saved us, anyway. It wouldn't matter, because Slade would've still attacked us." Raven responded. M'gaan looked up at Raven and smiled.

   "Thanks, Raven." She mumbled.

   "No problem." Raven murmured. They turned as Artemis, Starfire, and Stephanie walked towards them.

   "M'gaan, a minute?" Artemis glanced at her. M'gaan nodded, following Artemis to an empty spot.

   Raven barely heard them, so she turned to Starfire. "Uh-"

   "Where are the others?" Robin popped up.

   "Who? Artemis and M'gaan?" Raven asked as she turned once again towards Robin. When he nodded, Raven said, "They went over there." She pointed to where the two girls walked to.

   Artemis nodded to M'gaan as both girls walked back over to both teams. "Kaldur, get Wally. Dick, come here. Conner, over here." Artemis ordered. The team walked over to Artemis and M'gaan and began to talk where the girls were previously speaking.

   "What's up?" Dick asked. They started to speak quietly; Raven was unable to hear what they were saying. After a brief conversation, the team walked back to the Titans. Aqualad walked close to Cyborg.

   "Are you the leader of this team?" Aqualad asked. Cyborg, dumbfounded, stared at him.

   "Uh, no," Cyborg shook his head. "Robin is the leader of this team." Robin came up beside Cyborg.

   "Erm, yeah?" He looked at Aqualad questionably.

   Aqualad glanced at his team, then at the Titans. "We were going to ask if you could assist us."

   The question clearly took Robin by surprise. "For what?"

   "We are trying our best to take down an enemy." Aqualad explained. "We needed some help. It was only when M'gaan remembered Garfield went to another team did she try telepathy."

   "And it looks like we got here just in time." Artemis added.

   "If you want our help," Robin jumped in. "then you've got it. We'll help you guys out, but you'll have to come with us, ok?" The team nodded their approval and followed the Titans by the entrance door. But M'gaan turned around as she heard something.

   Slade had gotten up, obviously hearing part of their conversations.

   "Uh, guys?" M'gaan yelled to them. Everyone turned around. Slade had stood up and had a button in his hand. Pressing it, the room began to crumble. Raven quickly put up a force field around both teams.

   "Raven?" Starfire's hand lit green as she lit the room.

   "Got any ideas?" Raven asked both teams. "I can't hold us here forever." She added silently.

   "Oh come on!" Beast Boy screamed. "Let's just run out of here!" Everyone quickly agreed. Instantly, Starfire grabbed Robin while Stephanie held onto Cyborg. Beast Boy turned into a pterodactyl and picked up Aqualad. Aqualad held onto Artemis while she held onto Dick. M'gaan grabbed Kid Flash and Cyborg carried Superboy. Raven flew over to Dick and Artemis.

   "I can carry one or both of you." Raven said. Dick and Artemis glanced at each other, and then Artemis swung Dick over to Raven. Grabbing Dick's arms, Raven glanced back up at Artemis. "What about you?"

   "It's fine," Artemis said. "Let's go." With Artemis' order, Raven quickly removed the force field and everyone flew out.

   Returning to the tower's roof, each member of both teams let each other go. Two people were on the roof besides the teams. Artemis saw them and smiled.

   "Zatanna!" Artemis ran over to her friend.

   "Artemis!" Zatanna shouted back. They hugged each other briefly then turned back to the teams. _Let's assume they're both good guys._ Raven thought.

   "Rocket and I wanted to know if you were alright." Zatanna said. Artemis nodded and smiled. Rocket walked over to the girls.

   "So, who are they?" She asked, eyeing the Titans.

   "Not entirely sure," Artemis admitted. "But they said we saved their lives from some trap."

   The three girls walked over to the teams.

   "So... Who are they?" Robin asked Artemis.

   "Zatanna and Rocket." Artemis introduced. Both girls waved at the Titans.

   "So," Zatanna whispered soft enough just for Artemis to hear. "Who’s dating who?"

   "Is that really a good question to ask?" Artemis asked lightly.

   "Oh come on, Artemis! You know you want to find out, too!" Zatanna played. "Don't pretend you _don't_ want to find out." Artemis hesitated, and then asked Aqualad. He said it was ok with him and his team, and ok with the Titans as well. Raven stared as everyone edged closer to each other.

   Artemis and Wally stood together, while Zatanna and Dick stood side by side. Aqualad and Rocket got together; close to them, M'gaan and Superboy stood next to each other.

   The Titans looked at one another, and then paired up: Beast boy with Raven and Starfire with Robin. Cyborg and Stephanie stared as if they didn't know what to do. Everyone looked at the two remaining Titans.

   "They should totally date." Beast Boy whispered just to Raven. She glanced at him and smiled slightly, amused.

   "Maybe it would be an advantage for Cyborg," Raven whispered back. "But maybe not so much for Stephanie. She's only fourteen."

   Stephanie glanced at Raven worriedly, and Raven realized she heard the conversation. _I-I need to tell you something later._ Stephanie said. Raven gave a slight nod, understanding.

   "O~kay," Robin said awkwardly, breaking the silence. "Let's go in the tower."

 

   After quite a while of talking with the other team, the Titans made small beds in the living room for their new friends. Everyone was asleep, except for Artemis and Zatanna, who were catching up on news from being away for a month. They whispered quietly, giggling over some of their news. The Titans were already in bed, besides Raven and Stephanie. The fourteen year old girl told Raven to meet her up on the roof when everyone was sleeping.

   By the time the two girls got onto the roof, the moon was shining towards the tower's windows, making the inside of the tower silver and bright blue. Raven sat there, staring at the moon, until Stephanie made it.

   "Yeah?" Raven asked, glancing over her shoulder to Stephanie. The girl walked up to Raven and sat next to her. For a moment she didn't speak; instead she took out her ponytail to reveal long, beautiful black hair. Long bangs flew to the side of her face. She threw the hair tie out into the ocean.

   "I-I..." Stephanie hesitated. Raven glanced at her, concerned. Stephanie sighed softly and continued. "I lied."

   "About what?" Raven asked.

   "About... About... About being fourteen." Stephanie hesitated again. Raven's eyes were wide with shock.

   "You mean you _aren't_ fourteen?"

   "No."

   "Then how old are you?"

   "I'm actually sixteen." Stephanie admitted.

   "Then maybe Beast Boy wasn't really joking around." Raven mumbled to herself.

   "What?" Stephanie looked up at her.

   "Uh, nothing." Raven quickly said. Stephanie stared at her for a moment longer, then shifted her position and wrapped her hands around her legs, resting her chin onto her knees.

   Raven continued after a brief silence. "Beast Boy. He, umm..." Raven stared at the moon, shifting into the same position as Stephanie. She looked back at the moon, which was higher in the night sky. "He told me earlier that he thought it would be... 'cute'... if you and Cyborg paired up."

   At once Stephanie's head shot up in disbelief. "Say what?" She forced her voice into a whisper. "Me and... and Cyborg?" Raven nodded, turning her head to her friend.

   "I know it's weird," Raven muttered, glancing at the moon. “But it's just one of Beast Boy's stupid jokes."

   "Oh... Al-alright." Stephanie looked down, and Raven could tell she was embarrassed. She put her legs half down, and got a hair tie from her arm, where many other hair ties remained. In a flash, she tied her hair back into a ponytail like before. Both girls stood up.

   "Well, uh," Stephanie started awkwardly. "I'm gonna go to bed, I guess. Oh, and thanks for talking to me." Stephanie added, flashing a grateful glance at Raven.

   "No problem." Raven smiled slightly. Putting her hood on, Raven prepared to fly.

   "Hey Rav?" Stephanie stopped her. "Aren't you going to sleep?"

   "Uh, yeah, I was just, um..." Raven thought hard. "I was just flying through the city. For fresh air. And to get away from the tower for a while. You know, with the crowd at the moment." Raven lied. Stephanie looked at her friend for a moment longer.

   "Alright." She finally said. Yawning, Stephanie turned to the door that lead into the tower. "Just don't stay out too long. Remember we've got plans tomorrow." Raven nodded.

   "Night, Steph." Raven said. Stephanie returned the saying as she disappeared through the door. Raven double-checked to make sure she was gone. Putting her arms in front of her, she flew out into the city.

   She looked out for anything that could surprise her- especially the thing that kept throwing the blue ball at her.

   But something she was not expecting was an arrow that connected to her cloak and pinned her on top of a building. Pulling out the arrow from her cloak, she activated her powers to pursue her attacker.

   But to her surprise, she saw someone in front of her, pointing an arrow at her face. The attacker's bow string was pulled back, close to her face. Her grey eyes were staring in disbelief at Raven. Instantly, Raven recognized her.

   "Artemis?" Raven exclaimed.

   "Raven?" Artemis lowered her bow and arrow. "What are you doing here?"

   "Uhh..." Raven couldn't tell her. But instead of wanting an answer, Artemis reached her hand out.

   "It's ok. I had my own secrets." Artemis whispered as she pulled Raven up.

   "Thanks." Raven muttered.

   "Come on," Artemis mumbled, glancing at every open space as if she expected someone to jump out. "Let's get back. Zatanna wanted to tell you something." She added. Raven nodded as she grabbed Artemis' arms and flew back towards the tower. The whole time Raven was thinking what Zatanna would want with her. But as the two girls reached the roof, Zatanna strolled over to them quickly.

   "Guys, something's gone wrong!" Zatanna said, hurrying to the landing girls.

   "What happened?" Artemis and Raven asked at the same time. They both glanced at each other, amused.

   Zatanna's eyes glinted with amusement for a moment, then she replied, "It's that girl with the red hair. She's gone!" Raven knew who Zatanna was talking about.

   "Starfire?" Raven asked. Zatanna nodded, backing up.

   "Wait." Artemis stopped Zatanna.

   "Hmm?"

   "Get everyone to help find this... Starfire, was it?" Artemis turned to Raven. She nodded.

   "Both teams?" Zatanna looked up at Artemis.

   "Both teams." Artemis confirmed. Zatanna nodded, running inside to get the teams. Moments later, after an eerie silence, both teams came rushing out onto the roof, with Robin and Dick in the lead.

   "What happened?" Robin asked Raven and Artemis. "Zatanna told us that Starfire went missing."

   "She did." Artemis answered. While they were discussing where Starfire could've gone, M'gaan went over to Raven.

   "I can see if using telepathy works," M'gaan suggested, backing away to think. "Maybe I can contact her?"

   "Yeah, good idea." Raven said, getting her communicator out. "I'll see if I can track her with the communicator." But it failed. Starfire wasn't linked up with the communicator. M'gaan came over to Raven after a moment.

   "I... cannot find her with my telepathy," M'gaan informed Raven. "She's out of my telepathic range."

   "It's alright. Her communicator must be turned off completely or messed up somehow, because I can't track her." Raven told M'gaan.

   "Well, we need to find her." M'gaan mumbled.

   "And we will." Robin promised, edging towards the girls. Out of the corner of her eye, Raven saw M'gaan shut her eyes and hold her head with one hand.

   "M'gaan?" Raven asked.

   "I-it's Starfire." M'gaan said. "Perhaps she's close enough in my telepathic range after all!"

   "Ask her where she is." Robin demanded. For a moment, M'gaan concentrated, and no one said a word. Her eyes flung open with a gasp.

   "Psimon!" M'gaan shouted.

   "Aw, no, not him!" Artemis crossed her arms and looked away. Superboy walked over to M'gaan, concern in his eyes.

   "Will you be ok?" He asked.

   "Superboy-"

   "I know what happened to you last time," Superboy whispered. "I don't want the same thing to happen again.

   "Conner, I'll be fine, I promise. You know now, so it really doesn't matter." M'gaan said.

   "Maybe not to us," Superboy mumbled. "But _they_ don't know." He glanced at the Titans.

   "Doesn't matter. They might find out sooner or later." M'gaan whispered. Sighing, she added, "Let's just go."

 

   They had found Starfire alright. Right in the other team's home: Gotham City, inside the Gotham Academy Gym. Psimon had Starfire in control, and could order her to damage herself. At worst, even kill her. Psimon looked up at the approaching teams.

   "Ah, who wants to play Psimon Says?" He smiled evilly. Everyone besides Dick, Robin, Superboy and Artemis activated their powers. Instead, Artemis got her bow and arrows, while Robin and Dick grabbed their weapons from their utility belts. Superboy gathered strength. Zatanna's magic powers were activated while Rocket flew in the air, getting ready to fight.

   "Psimon Says," Psimon began. M'gaan stared wide-eyed and helpless at their enemy. "Freeze." Under his command, every one of both teams froze. Raven tried to move, but couldn't. Psimon's spell had frozen them all.

   Suddenly Raven felt her powers working. Though she was frozen, she screwed up her eyes and smiled menacingly. Psimon's spell may have frozen her along with her friends, but that didn't stop her from using her powers.

   Raven's powers hit Psimon, wearing off the spell. They all unfroze, preparing to attack the villain. But Psimon stood, anger in his eyes, and called out yet another spell.

   "Psimon Says sleep!" He shouted. Everyone went wide-eyed as they fell to the floor completely. Their eyes shut. Darkness overwhelmed them. Raven let out a small sigh and let the dizzying darkness take over her, until all she could see and think of was the blackness in front of her closed eyes.


	15. A Dream of Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raven learns something from an episode of Young Justice  
> my summaries suck

Chapter 14: A Dream of Past

   _Raven opened her eyes only to see a cave floor. Closing them, she pushed her hands on the ground and sat up, holding her head._ Why do I feel so dizzy? _Raven asked herself. Opening her eyes, she saw two red and yellow androids at the top of a wall. Suddenly she remembered that this was the Cave. It was the home of the other team. Raven heard them describe it when they were getting to know them. She heard some tube start talking._

_"_ _Recognized Robin. B-01. Recognized Artemis. B-07."_

_Before Raven knew it, the whole cave exploded in red smoke. Dick and Artemis ran towards an exit. Raven flew quickly to follow. Instantly a fire tornado sprouted and zoomed towards the two._

_"Override RG4. Cave calling Justice League. H. O. J. slash Watchtower. B-01. Priority red." Dick shouted while_ _turning on the water in the showers. Raven followed, eyes wide, wanting an answer to what was going on._

_"At least the water's helping." Dick said. As if he jinxed himself and Artemis, the knobs exploded as well as the shower heads. They poured out water, filling the room with water._

_"Or not." He mumbled. Dick put an explosive device on the wall to bust them out of there. They sat there, coughing for a moment, then ran._

_"Artemis!" Raven called, following them both. They ran so fast that Raven lost them._

_After not too long, Raven found the two again in a vent, looking at security footage._

_"That's it," Dick was saying. "All four are dead." Artemis stared at him, and Raven thought Artemis might burst into tears._

_"The cameras!" Dick shouted quickly after seeing his teammate's face. "I meant the cameras! Uh, I'm sure the others are ok." Raven stared at them for a moment longer, and then flew off to find the remaining members._ I need to make sure they're ok! _Raven thought._

 _She found them, trapped and helpless against their weaknesses. Kid Flash and Superboy trapped in metal; Aqualad and M'gaan held in a fire cage: their greatest weakness._ I've got to tell Artemis and Dick. _Raven thought. She found her way to Artemis and Dick a few minutes later. They were in an air vent again, talking._

_"You seem distraught." Dick smiled and said calmly._

_"Distraught?" Artemis shouted, sarcastic laughter in her voice. She carried on angrily. "M'gaan is dying. We have no powers, and I'm down to my last arrow. Of course I'm distraught!"_

_Dick's voice changed to a fierce, angry voice. "Well get traught, or get dead!"_

_"How can you be so calm?" Artemis' desperate voice called out as they moved down the vent._

_"Practice. I've been doing this since I was nine." Dick replied. They quickly moved through the vent until they reached an opening for the door._

_"Cover me." Dick mumbled, jumping down to the Cave's main generator. Moments later, Artemis screamed something to Dick._

_"Robin look out!" Her scream was desperate. Water crashed into Dick and the androids drowned him until he was unconscious._

_Terrified, Artemis ran back into the vent. Fire crashed through, flinging her further. Quickly, she crawled through the vent until she reached a small crack. Wide eyed, Artemis peeked in the crack, and saw Dick, drowned. She fell back, curled into a ball, and whimpered, "No, no, no, no, no..." Her last word came as a whisper. There she stayed, almost crying._

_"Artemis..." Raven whispered as she came closer to comfort her friend._

_"No..." Artemis closed her eyes and whimpered even more._

_"I surrender, I die with the others." Artemis murmured. Raven stayed silent as she continued. "But if I find a way out..." Artemis muttered, climbing around the vent. "Out of the Cave. Out of the mountain..." She kept going forward. Raven crawled after her._

_"I can get help," Artemis continued to talk to herself. "Call in the League." Suddenly, her hand slipped and she fell the rest of the way down. Raven followed, trying to fly down, but slipped as well. Both were screaming as they fell._

_"Three minutes." The android called over an intercom. Artemis stood up._

_"Who am I kidding?" She said. "Best I can do is hide. Hope the League finds me before the Reds..." She glanced at Wally's souvenir shelf, and walked over to it. Raven, who landed beside Artemis, stood up and followed her._

_"I know you understand." Artemis stared at a mask. Her voice sounded upset and desperate._

_After several moments, Artemis grabbed the mask. "That may have been true about our family," she said. "But I've found a new family. And here, we're all for one, and-"_

_"One minute." The android said. Artemis put the mask back, and grabbed the arrow beside it. She and Raven ran to the entrance where the androids were waiting._

_"I surrender. Stop the clock." Artemis shouted. She had her bow out with one arrow left. They two androids stepped forward as did Artemis. Raven stood behind._ Why is she...? _Raven had herself confused. She watched as Artemis held her bow close to the androids. Then she smiled and leaped backwards. She kicked both androids in the face, jumped backwards again, then in mid-air, shot her last arrow to the generator. Every machine went out. Including the androids._

_"Kaldur! How' M'gaan?" Superboy shouted._

_"She breathes." Aqualad shouted back. "I believe she will recover. What of Robin?"_

_Artemis stared at Dick's unmoving body. She put her hands on his chest and head, staring wide-eyed. Then he coughed._

_"He-he's breathing too!" Artemis sounded relieved._

_"Way to get traught." Dick smiled._

_Artemis leaned back and sighed, relieved._

_A while later, Artemis was trying to get Superboy and Kid Flash free with some laser._

_"Will you quit playing with that thing and cut us free already?" Kid Flash shouted._

_"It's not working, genius." Artemis retorted. "EMP shuts down all machines, remember?"_

_"All machines present at the time." Red Tornado burst in. Raven didn't know exactly who he was, but he was obviously a good guy. She also heard of him when the Team first came to the tower. "What has occurred?"_

_"Had a little visit from your family." Dick muttered, glancing at the Reds._

_"Your extremely nasty family." Artemis added._

_"I was not aware I had relations." Red Tornado walked over to the other Reds._

_"Where have you been?" Superboy asked._

_"Monitor duty on the Watchtower. When it became clear cave communications were down, I attempted to investigate. But your Zeta tubes were also nonfunctional. I transported to Providence and proceeded here." Red Tornado explained. Sphere came out of the wall just then and went over to Superboy._

_"Hey, boy." Superboy murmured. Artemis accidently activated the laser on the metal, then stopped._

_"The pulse has worn off." Dick and Kid Flash said at the same time. At that moment, Red Tornado touched the androids and got shocked. He used his powers to suffocate the Team. Everyone gasped and passed out. Artemis walked close to them and fell to the ground, holding her throat._

_"Can't breathe." She muttered. Passing out, she landed on her side._

_It seemed to have affected Raven too, for she too couldn't breathe. This time, she let herself pass out, only waking to a voice._

_"Artemis? Artemis, can you hear me? She's all right." Superman shouted to the team. Raven woke, and looked back. Green Arrow, Batman, Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman were gathered around their doubles. Flash and Captain Atom tried to get Superboy and Kid Flash out of the metal. Black Canary was talking with Batman and Dick._

_"What happened here?" Superman asked._

_"What happened? The Reds happened. Tornado and his- wait, where are they?" Artemis looked back, confused._

_"Gone." Dick answered. "All three of them. Gone."_

_Holding her head, Raven shut her eyes, feeling dizzy again. Suddenly she felt as if she couldn't breathe. Wide-eyed and gasping, she held her hand around her throat, falling to her knees._

_"Artemis..." Raven rasped with her last breath. Artemis didn't even look at her. "M'gaan...? Aqualad?" She called desperately. "Help me..." Raven's mind whirled. She began to forget everything that had happened. Her voice gave way as she saw nothing more than darkness, and remembered nothing except of Azarath._


	16. Remember

Chapter 15: Remember

   Raven woke up with a gasp. Looking around after sitting up, she didn't know where she was. Glancing around, she saw other people. Also, she realized she was in a desert. Jumping up, her powers activated.

   The other people woke too and stood.

   "Who are you?" Raven asked.

   "Who are _you?_ " A male with spiky hair shouted back, getting weapons.

   "A-actually," Raven began. "Who are you _all?_ " Suddenly, by Raven's statement, everyone stared at each other, and then turned on one another.

   "No!"

   At the sound of the cry in the air, everyone stared upwards. A green Martian came down from flying.

   "Don't hurt each other!" The Martian exclaimed. "You're friends! We're all your friends! Don't you know me? It's M'gaan!" _M'gaan...?_

   " _Nemas_?" A red-head asked in a weird language Raven didn't understand. Although Raven is bilingual, she didn't understand a word this woman was saying. " _Zota zi bota! Es ta casata rar za mone_!" **(look y'all I originally had her speak English but if her memories were erased she wouldn't remember kissing Robin, therefore she would only know her natural language. I tried my best to make up a language lmao)**

   More people popped up behind the Martian. Raven's eyes widened at the people. One that looked completely suspicious was a pale person- paler than Raven was- behind the other people.

   "Ah, I see you've found your friends." He said. Taking his hood off, he added, "Now it's time for you to join them!"

   "No!" Raven didn't know why, but she put up a force field around everyone but the pale man. _Why am I doing this? Why am I here?_ Raven thought. Holding her head with one hand, she slammed her eyes shut. _Why aren't I in Azarath?_

Suddenly her force field disappeared and her powers broke off. Grunting, she fell back, only being caught by the green boy.

   "Raven!" M'gaan shouted, concerned. _H-how does she know my name?_ She asked herself. Suddenly she remembered something.

   _"We're not five heroes," The spike-haired boy said. "We're one team."_

Raven fell to the ground, one hand holding her up, the other on her head. Her eyes shut as she focused.

   _"Get away from my friends!" Raven shouted. "Azarath Mentrion Zinthos!"_

Opening her eyes, Raven collapsed completely on the ground, causing a large dust cloud to form around her. Everyone ran quickly over to her.

   "Is she ok?" The green boy asked.

   "She'll be fine." A blonde girl in a ponytail answered.

   Suddenly, another person rose.

   "Oh, my head..." She murmured. "It feels like I got hit with a truck."

   "Good, good," The pale man in the cloak said. "Now that you're all here, I can make you all forget!"

   Everyone crowded around each other. "I won't let it happen again!" M'gaan shouted.

   "Oh, but you don't have much of a choice." The man mumbled.

   "No. I do." Raven heard M'gaan whisper. Quickly, M'gaan grabbed Raven's head, which surprised Raven, and M'gaan's eyes turned green. Raven shut hers, and visions and memories flooded her mind. M'gaan quickly went through all the Titans and restored their memories.

   Falling backwards, someone caught Raven. Surprised, Raven glanced up. "It's ok," Raven realized it was Robin. "I got'cha."

   Psimon, angry now, blew both teams far away in the desert with his mind. After what seemed like hours, they finally landed hard into the sand. Almost everyone sat up, holding their heads.

   Then Raven's eyes flipped open.

   Where was Stephanie? Looking around, she found Stephanie far away in the sand, on her side. Running over to her friend, Raven tripped on something hard inside the sand and rolled down for miles.

   "Ah!" Rolling, she grunted with each hit and dust clouds formed on either side of her. She rolled down until she reached Stephanie.

   "Nnduh..." Raven grunted as she held herself up. She then realized that she dislocated her shoulder by falling. Dizzy from rolling, she had trouble focusing, but eventually realized that Stephanie wasn't moving.

   "Steph?" Raven whispered, nudging her friend on her shoulder. "Stephanie?"

   Still Stephanie did not move. For a moment, Raven's eyes widened at the thought of her friend being dead. She wasn't even breathing. Then Stephanie gasped, coughed, and opened her eyes slightly, turning her head to Raven.

   "Rav?" Stephanie rasped. Raven couldn't help but smile. She watched in silence as Stephanie pulled herself up, but almost fell. Quickly, Raven grabbed her friend's arm and put it over her shoulder.

   Holding onto Stephanie's side and walking, Raven mumbled, "Do you know where the others are?"

   "N-no..." Raven hardly heard her hurt friend.

   "It's alright," Raven murmured. "We'll find them." _Somehow._ Raven added silently.

   "Raven..." Both girls fell as Stephanie muttered her teammate's name. Raven gave up trying to find the others. With the beating sun and no water around, she let herself pass out like Stephanie.

 

   "Raven!"

   "Raven, get up!"

   Opening her eyes, Raven saw M'gaan and Artemis at her side, worried.

   "I-I'm alright," Raven muttered, sitting up instantly. "Just help Stephanie." Artemis nodded and looked at Stephanie. M'gaan and Raven mumbled to each other.

   "Are you sure you're alright?" M'gaan asked.

   "I'm fine." Raven replied. "Just hurt my- Agh! S-shoulder..." Raven murmured, moving it a bit.

   "It's dislocated." M'gaan said. Quickly, she pulled Raven's arm hard, and it set her shoulder back in place.

   "Ow!" Raven forced a whisper.

   "Sorry," M'gaan apologized.

   "Not your fault. Now I'm definitely ok." Raven said.

   "But what if-"

   "M'gaan..." Raven looked at her seriously.

   M'gaan sighed. "Sorry," She apologized. "I just-"

   "Uh, guys?" Artemis' voice interrupted them. "Stephanie's dehydrated."

   "How long have we been out here?" Raven asked.

   "Nine hours." Artemis answered. "We've been trying to get out of this desert," She explained. "But we realized we never knew where you two were. So we came to look for you. M'gaan and I split up and the others went into teams. I guess we were the ones who found you." Artemis finished.

   Raven, shocked at the whole thing, stared at to two girls

   She sighed, closed her eyes, and then opened them, serious.

   Then she finally answered.

   "Where are the others?"


	17. The Scares

Chapter 16: The Scares

   M'gaan, Raven, Stephanie, and Artemis all walked across the desert in search for their friends. Raven had been able to heal Stephanie a bit, and Artemis gave her some water. Thankfully, Stephanie was strong enough to walk with them. Raven checked the time on her communicator every now and then, only to have six more hours pass from being stranded. They had all grown tired and weak, but night had come. Luckily, the night had brought cooler temperatures, and an easier time in the desert.

   Although it was cooler, they still were dehydrated. They needed water as soon as possible. After walking nonstop for quite a while, Raven told the others she was flying ahead. They all agreed, and followed Raven's path by walking. Moments later, Raven flew back, disbelief, fear, and shock in her eyes.

   "The others!" Raven gasped out. "They're over here!" M'gaan grabbed Artemis' arms and flew with Raven and Stephanie to the others.

   When they found both teams, they were laying in the sand, unconscious.

   To Raven's surprised, Stephanie gasped, "Cyborg!" and ran right over to him. Raven walked over to Robin, got on her knees, and shook him.

   "Robin?" She asked. "Robin, c'mon."

   "Beast Boy!"

   Raven turned, startled, at M'gaan's sudden outburst.

   "He's hurt!" M'gaan called.

   "They all are!" Artemis yelled back.

   Raven's mind whirled. Without thinking of what she wanted to do, her powers activated and soon everyone was on a black and white magic plate-looking thing.

   "What are-?" M'gaan's confused statement got cut off as Raven stared at her.

   "I-I'll teleport us somewhere." Raven answered. Instantly, she thought of places to go. But before she could make a decision, she blinked and they were at the Cave.

   "Er-"

   "How did you know where the Cave was?" M'gaan asked Raven, confused.

   "You told me about it, remember?" Raven answered calmly.

   The remaining members, Starfire, Superboy, Aqualad, Dick, Kid Flash Zatanna, Rocket, Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy all got to their feet soon enough.

   "What happened...?" Robin asked, holding his head.

   "We're still trying to figure that one out." Raven mumbled. "But other than that, you're hurt."

   "We're fine." Robin ensured her. Raven still stared at him, knowing they weren't.

   "Raven." A voice sounded behind Robin. Raven looked behind her friend and saw Starfire. Her eyes were full of relief and concern. She stepped towards Raven and hugged her.

   Full of surprise, Raven grabbed Starfire's shoulders and pushed her away. "Star, I'm fine," Raven said. "But are _you_ alright?"

   "Beast Boy's hurt, but I think you and Artemis can-" Robin's advice was cut short as he stared wide-eyed at something at the top of the wall.

   It was Psimon.

   Anger surged through Raven; this was the person who would try to kill them all and didn't care. Everyone ran up the side steps to Psimon, but he jumped down to the lower ground. Both teams stared down at him.

   "Ha!" Psimon laughed. "Psimon Says create a fire cage!" Instantly they were surrounded by fire.

   M'gaan stared at it, wide-eyed, and then fell to the floor. Superboy quickly caught her.

   "What happened?" Starfire gasped.

   "M'gaan's greatest weakness is fire," Aqualad explained briefly. "If we do not get out soon, M'gaan could possibly die. And because I have a home underwater, I cannot survive in these conditions either." He added.

   "We'll find a way out." Raven said weakly, her voice fading against the raging fire. Suddenly she thought of an idea. "Listen," she began. "I can teleport us all out of here. Just stick close to each other."

   Raven stared at Stephanie as her friend edged close to Cyborg. Clearly, Cyborg was taken aback. _Maybe Beast Boy was right,_ Raven thought.

   Raven focused and tried to activate her powers.

   But nothing happened.

   "Raven?" Stephanie asked. "You ok?"

   Raven turned around to face them. She opened her mouth, but words never came out. Instead, she coughed, held her throat, and fell to the floor, coughing repeatedly. Both teams ran over to her, but Artemis helped her up.

   "M-my powers," Raven didn't know how she managed to speak, but she did. "They're not w-working... The... Fire..." She fell to the floor again, but Zatanna and Rocket ran to her, trying to hold her up.

   "Kaldur!" Kid Flash shouted. Aqualad had passed out, and Superboy didn't look good either. None of them did.

   "I got it!" Beast Boy yelled to the teams. He turned into a bird and tried to fly out of the cage. Instantly, the fire hurt him. Falling, he turned into his normal self.

   "Beast Boy!" Robin shouted, running towards him. Beast Boy held his stomach, groaned, and fell back down after Robin helped him up.

   "Ha ha ha haaaa ha ha ha!" Psimon laughed from outside the cage. Raven turned and felt anger towards the evil person. Rage soared through her. Her mind went blank and she could feel her anger building up, along with feeling her eyes change.

   "Ugh!"

   Raven realized that she hit Psimon with power. Her eyes widened as she realized that Trigon had just basically controlled her. The fire cage faded. Suddenly, Raven felt weak. From the fire, from using her power, even from her father controlling her a bit, but most of all from her friends almost dying. She started to fall, but could feel Artemis catch her.

   "Raven, you alright?" She asked.

   "F-fine," Raven stammered.

"Artemis, watch Raven," Dick ordered. "Make sure she's fine."

   "M'gaan." Superboy mumbled as M'gaan woke.

   "I'm alright." She promised. Superboy smiled. Aqualad arose, too, followed by Beast Boy.

   "Kick his butt." Superboy murmured to M'gaan. She smiled at him and turned to her friends. _I still feel weak,_ Raven thought. _But I can still fight with my friends!_

   Cyborg, his canon; Beast Boy, turned into a tiger; Stephanie, Rocket, Starfire, M'gaan, Zatanna, and Raven all activated their powers while Artemis got her arrow and bow; Dick and Robin got their weapons from their utility belts; Superboy, strong and ready to fight; Kid Flash, ready to speed up. Psimon stared.

   "Ahahaha..." He mumbled. "Kick my psychic butt?"

   "Titans, go!" Robin shouted.

   "Team, get 'em!" Dick shouted.

   Raven, M'gaan, Zatanna, and Starfire glanced at each other, and then Raven nodded.

   "Come and get me, you big brute!" Zatanna shouted, running as Psimon rounded on her.

   "Ha! Ha!" Starfire's eyes turned green as she hit Psimon with starbolts. Psimon, angry now, tried to beam her with his power, but she moved at the right moment. Instead, Raven took her place, activating a force field over her, and then shooting it at the enemy.

   "Stephanie, now!" Raven shouted. Flying up, Raven vanished as Stephanie took her place.

   "Enough!"

   Raven heard a gasp, then, "Ah!" All she could remember was the end of the world, where Trigon got angry and shot at the Titans for attacking. They had remained unconscious for some time. _Oh, no!_

   Raven came back just in time to see Stephanie get shot by Psimon. Her friend, unconscious by the hit, fell down to the bottom of the Cave. Glancing at Psimon with pure hatred, she quickly flew down to her injured friend. Raven got on her knees and examined her friend. A shadow fell over her.

   She stood up, spun around, and stared at Psimon.

   But it wasn't Psimon.

   It was Robin.

   "Raven," he began. "She's not fit for the team. Maybe she'd be better off on her own."

   "No." Raven said flatly. " _You_ might not trust her, but _I_ do. I _know_ when Terra betrayed us. I _know_ why she did it. But Stephanie is _different_. _You_ don't seem to understand it."

   Turning back to the unconscious teenager, Raven added, "If you can't trust her, then maybe you should just back away from her."

   Robin stared, from Stephanie to Raven. For a moment he didn't move or speak at all. Raven turned, wondering what happened or if she could have hurt his feelings, which Raven would feel bad about; they had a close and strong bond. She didn't want to break it with one argument.

   "Raven, it's not that," Robin mumbled. "I'm just saying that..." He broke off, embarrassed. "Ok, it is that. But I-"

   M'gaan flew over to the three members. "Guys hurry! Robin, we need you now!" Robin nodded, and then turned to Raven.

   "I promise we'll talk later," Robin assured. Raven nodded. M'gaan stared at her as Robin went.

   "What's wrong?" M'gaan prompted. Raven sighed.

   "Just... Titan business, I guess." Raven murmured.

   "Erm..." M'gaan looked confused. "I-I meant Stephanie."

   "Oh!" Raven looked away for a moment, embarrassed. "She's hurt. Psimon blasted her."

   "Psimon!" M'gaan scowled. "I'll take care of him."

   Raven followed her friend, flying side by side with her. She watched as M'gaan closed her eyes, and then opened them. They were bright green, staring at Psimon. The villain looked at her, and then closed his eyes, falling to the floor. M'gaan's eyes turned back to normal.

   "What did you do?" Raven whispered.

   "I put him in a mental coma," M'gaan explained. "He'll be out for a while." Raven nodded, then flew back to get Stephanie. As she did she could hear Superboy yelling at M'gaan.

   "Why did you do that?" Superboy shouted.

   "If I didn't, more of the teams would get hurt!" M'gaan retorted. "Not just Stephanie." Superboy relaxed. Raven grabbed Stephanie's arm and put it around her shoulder, flying back to the others. Artemis saw Raven with Stephanie and ran to her.

   "I'm good with healing," Artemis mumbled to Raven. "I can help heal her."

   Raven nodded. "I have healing powers. We can take care of Stephanie," Raven promised. "But here isn't the place. I'll take us back to the tower." Artemis nodded and took Stephanie from Raven.

Raven got everyone together and prepared to take them back to the tower. "Azarath Mentrion Zinthos!" Raven chanted. Black magic formed around every member of both teams and the magic turned into a raven bird.

   Before anyone knew it they were at the tower in the living room.

"You got a medical room?" Artemis asked. Raven nodded, asking Cyborg to show her. Cyborg nodded and Artemis followed him to the medical room to care for Stephanie.

   Raven had noticed that Robin slipped away to the roof. She told Beast Boy she'll be back, and teleported to the roof before anyone could follow her. Finding Robin at the edge of the roof, staring off into the sunset, she walked over to him until they stood side by side.

"Robin?"

"Yeah?"

   "You said we would talk," Raven reminded him from earlier at the Cave. "Let's talk."

   "Alright," He finally answered. "Listen, if Stephanie can do something extraordinary, then I can trust her."

   Raven hesitated. "Fine," she answered. "But if she ends up doing something amazing, and you still don't trust her, you've got a problem. Because as far as I can see, Stephanie needs us. If you don't understand that, then leave her out of it."


	18. Newcomers

Chapter 17: Newcomers

   The next morning, Raven went into the medical room to check on Stephanie, who was unconscious from a shot from Psimon, a villain. Both teams were hurt by the power from the evil-doer, but they recovered. Sadly, Stephanie was still in bad shape, considering she got hit in the head with a blast.

   Once Raven walked inside the room, Stephanie jumped up, terrified, but activated her powers to shoot at Raven. Raven, wide-eyed, stared at Stephanie. _Did Psimon do something to her?_ Raven asked herself. But to her surprise, Psimon wasn't the cause for Stephanie to round up on Raven. Instead, when Stephanie saw her friend, she deactivated her powers and stared at Raven, embarrassed.

   "S-sorry, Rae," Stephanie mumbled.

   "It's alright," Raven replied, walked over to where Stephanie was sitting up in a bed. "You scared me too. I thought Psimon must've done something to you."

   "H-he didn't." Stephanie looked away for a moment.

   "Anyway," Raven began. "Last night, Robin told me something you might want to hear." She began to explain everything that had happened. Stephanie's eyes had widened. After Raven finished, Stephanie glanced down at the floor, then back at her friend.

   "What do I do?" She asked.

   "Uhh..." Raven thought hard to come up with an idea.

   _Obstacle course._ A voice whispered in Raven's head.

   _M'gaan?_ Raven asked.

 _Mm-hmm._ She answered.

   "You can do another obstacle course," Raven suggested to Stephanie, bringing herself back to reality. "See if that helps." Stephanie hesitated, but nodded.

   "Yeah, let's go." Stephanie started to get up. Raven put her hand out to stop her.

   "No," she shook her head. "You need to rest. You've been hurt too many times, Stephanie. I'm not gonna watch you get hurt again." Raven recalled herself saying the exact same thing her friend had said many weeks ago: _"We've lost you too many times, Raven! I-I'm not taking that risk again!"_

"Alright," Stephanie replied, getting back in the medical bed.

"Let's wait until later," Raven spoke after a moment. "Then we can bring Robin."

 

 

 _Come on, Stephanie, you've got this._ Raven thought as she watched her friend zoom around the obstacle course. She had gone through thirty seconds of the course, but how much longer until she gets hurt like last time?

   Stephanie prepared to take out lasers shooting at her, but as she activated her blue powers, a big rock hit her side. Robin powered down the course, and ran back to Raven. Quickly, Raven helped Stephanie up. She was thankful that her friend wasn't as hurt as usual, but because of the impact, she was struggling to regain balance.

   "Stephanie, are you-?" Raven's question was cut off as someone started to speak.

   "Hey, Stephanie."

The voice was Terra's.

   "You miss me?" Raven knew that Terra meant to hit Stephanie, but she Raven got hit instead.

   "Ah!" She screamed as she rolled and farther along the land.

   "Raven!" Robin spoke for the first time. Robin helped his friend up, while Stephanie ran towards them.

   "Stephanie," Raven whispered. "You have to fight her."

   "H-h-how can I fight someone who tried to kill me?" Stephanie asked in a low voice.

   "Hope and courage." Raven answered. "This is your chance to take _revenge_ on a person who tried to kill you." Stephanie nodded, and Raven knew that she would be ok.

   They fought and they fought until Terra was defeated. Stephanie went close up to the beaten girl, but before she could do anything, Raven saw Terra's eyes go yellow. Rocks hit Stephanie. She gasped, but it was cut short as she was almost buried in rocks.

   "Don't mess with me," Warned Terra.

   "Ha!" Raven fake laughed in disbelief. "We couldn't if we tried." She mumbled sarcastically.

   "Then you don't know me." Terra smirked. "Hyaa!"

   Rocks flew towards the two, but Raven blocked them with a force field in front of her and Robin.

   "Get Stephanie." Raven ordered Robin. He nodded, but uncertainty flashed in his eyes.

   While Robin got Stephanie, Raven glanced behind her and saw some loose rocks. Thinking quickly, she removed some rocks with her power and shot them at Terra.

   Raven _knew_ that Terra could move rocks. She _knew_ what she was doing. The rocks went too fast for Terra to catch up to, and the rocks hit her.

   "Apprentice," A new voice rang out, deep but commanding. "Do not waste time on these worthless teens. Let's leave." Raven turned around and saw someone she knew for years.

   Slade.

   Stephanie stood up after struggling to move out of the rocks, mouth and eyes wide in horrified silence.

   "Come, apprentice." Slade called again. At once, Terra and Slade disappeared. But before Terra did, a rock flew and knocked Stephanie to the ground. Raven and Robin both walked to their hurt friend, but Robin held his hand out. Stephanie looked at it, smiled, and then hopped up with the help of Robin.

   "And the great one dares to touch the hand of an untrustable girl." Stephanie teased.

   "The great Stephanie repeats a line I spoke more than five months ago." A new voice came along. Raven turned and saw Artemis, with Zatanna, Rocket, M'gaan, Superboy, Aqualad, Dick, Kid Flash, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire walking towards them.

   "Artemis!" Stephanie exclaimed. "You surprised me!"

   "Heh." Artemis mumbled. "I've surprised lots of people."

   Raven glanced at Artemis, but she glanced back, and nodded slightly.

   _What do you mean?_ Raven dared to ask her.

   _My business. My personal life. Raven, please, stay out of it._

 _Sorry,_ Raven apologized. _Just wanted to make sure you were ok._

 _Better than ok. Way better._ Artemis responded.

   _Ah, and the great Artemis quotes something I have said to my friends._ Raven smiled slightly to Artemis.

   _Heh._ That was it. The last thing Artemis said before a voice interrupted them.

   "Finally. I found you."

   It was Psimon.


	19. Forever Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn more about Stephanie's past... but can she and Raven face it?

Chapter 18: Forever Secrets

   Starfire let out a gasp as Raven spun around. Psimon was walking up behind her.

   "Raven was it?" Psimon asked. He put his hand out in front of Raven's face. Wide-eyed, she stared, until Psimon blasted her with power. Grunting in pain, she flew backwards from the hit. Artemis ran behind her and stood there, staring at Psimon angrily.

   Beast Boy turned into a tiger, growling in rage. Flinging himself at the enemy, the green boy yowled in anger.

   But Psimon attacked first. "Psimon Says sleep."

   Beast Boy's tiger eyes widened, and then closed as he turned into his normal self, but asleep.

   "No!" M'gaan breathed. Raven felt Artemis help her up, but barely noticed it. All Raven could see was M'gaan attacking Psimon.

   Artemis whispered something to Raven, but it was a moment before she realized what Artemis said. "Go. Take the Titans and everyone besides Zatanna, M'gaan and me." Raven nodded.

   Raven contacted the others using telepathy, and spoke to Zatanna and M'gaan to stay. She explained to the girls staying that Artemis had formed a plan, and that Artemis would explain. Cyborg picked up Beast Boy along the way.

   Making sure there was no other Titan left and the Team left inside the tower, Raven teleported in the living room and landed beside Stephanie.

   "Everyone alright?" Robin asked. Everyone nodded. Suddenly, Raven heard Stephanie gasp and stare wide-eyed at something in one of the hallways, which were pitch black. Raven followed Stephanie's horrified gaze in the hallway. Wide-eyed too, she then saw two yellow eyes in the shadows.

   Nervous, Raven shot power towards the hallway, grunting. But the shadow just reflected the power, and it shot right at Raven. Her eyes were wide as she realized who this was: Eclipse. She tried to dodge the power, but it hit her and she burst back to the others with a grunt. Cyborg helped her up, but Raven still stared, concerned and wide-eyed at Eclipse.

   But she realized that Stephanie was still staring at Eclipse. Raven saw her pass out, full of fear. Glancing at the hallway, she watched, unblinking, as Eclipse faded away.

   "Med room," Raven whispered to Cyborg. "Now." Cyborg nodded and picked up Stephanie, then ran out to the medical room. Moments later, Zatanna, M'gaan, and Artemis came in the room.

   "Psimon's down," M'gaan explained. "A little visitor took over to take him to Belle Reve."

   "Which is...?" Raven trailed off.

   "A prison in Gotham City." Artemis carried the conversation.

   "And who came here?"

   "Batman." Zatanna finished.

   Raven felt shocked, but didn't show it. "Ok, well, uh, Stephanie got a bit... spooked..." Raven changed the subject. She was careful not to mention Eclipse. "Artemis, M'gaan, follow me. She needs help." The two girls nodded and took off with Raven.

   They momentarily entered the medical room, where Cyborg was checking the stats.

   "Hey," Cyborg greeted them. "Is Artemis good at healin'?"

   Artemis stepped forward and nodded. "Yeah, I can help." She began examining the stats while Cyborg turned around.

   "She was mumblin' somethin'," He said to Raven. "Somethin' about a shadow."

   Raven was alarmed. How much did Stephanie say about Eclipse? "Was that all?" Raven dared to ask.

   "Uh, yea. Why?" Cyborg looked at Raven, confused.

   "No reason." She answered awkwardly.

   "Ok..." Cyborg turned. "Well, I'm gonna go to sleep. Good night, y'all." He left the room with only the three girls left.

   "I guess M'gaan and I will go to bed." Artemis said. "You should sleep, too." She added when Raven opened her mouth to protest.

   "Alright." Raven said. "Night."

 

   _"No!"_

_Raven hit a person in a creepy cat mask._

_"This one's for Artemis." The girl murmured, throwing a sai at Raven. It went straight through her cloak, ripping part of it._

_"Wait..." Raven mumbled. "Artemis?"_

_"Yep."_

_"What do you know about her?"_

_"We are relatively close." The girl answered. "Name's Cheshire."_

"Artemis talked... You... ...Weren't trustable..." Raven mumbled. Opening her eyes, she realized she was only dreaming.

"Uhh..." Raven rubbed her head. Getting out of her bed, she got her cloak on and went to check on Stephanie, who was still in the medical room.

   "Steph?" Raven whispered.

   Stephanie jumped up and gasped; Raven realized she didn't have her ponytail in. Her hair was long and black, with her bangs on the side.

   "Ra...ven..." Stephanie gasped out. Raven saw tears streaming down her friend's face.

   "What's wrong?" Raven asked, concerned. "What happened?"

   "E-E-Eclipse!" Stephanie barely whispered. Raven's eyes went wide. "Eclipse... He-he's the one..."

   "One what?"

   "He's the one who killed my family!"

   Raven gaped, eyes wide. "He did _what_?"

   "He did..." Stephanie whimpered. "I'm sorry..."

   "Don't be. It's alright. Eclipse will never- _never_ \- hurt you again." Raven promised. She walked forward and hugged her friend. "I promise."

   "Th-thank you, Raven... You're my best friend, you know that? My only real friend who tr-trusts me more than an-anyone... Thank you..."

   _Steph... We aren't friends._

_We're family._


	20. Shadows of the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even though this is hella old, I'm still proud of this chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 19: Shadows of the Night

   Raven walked into the living room with Stephanie behind her. Thankfully, her friend felt better from the night before. Raven had stayed up with Stephanie the whole night, and they both felt tired. Once they walked in Raven saw both teams sitting on the couch.

   "What's goin' on?" Stephanie asked, her ponytail back up.

   "Cheshire." Artemis mumbled as she stared at the screen.

   "We'll get her." Kid Flash said.

   "Yeah. Good luck." Artemis looked down.

 

 

   Both teams had gone out to search for Cheshire, who Raven feared would hurt others. They all found Cheshire in Gotham City, where she stood, waiting for the teams.

   "It's so good to see you again, sister." Cheshire said openly to Artemis.

   "We may be sisters, Jade," Artemis replied, grabbing her bow and an arrow. "But we are nothing alike."

   Cheshire threw a sai towards Artemis, but Raven blocked it with her powers.

   Everyone tried to fight the villain, but Cheshire was too much for the Titans. The Team knew her better, but still couldn't beat her. Suddenly, an arrow with a red tip knocked Cheshire's mask off, revealing her face.

"Quite a surprise, Roy. Didn't think I'd see you here." Cheshire mumbled. Raven looked up.

"Red Arrow?" Artemis stood up from where she was laying.

"Yep." The person responded. He put Cheshire in handcuffs. "You're going to Belle Reve, where you belong." Red Arrow said to the villain.

   "I'll just disappear like the Cheshire Cat." Cheshire whispered. She reached into her pocket and pulled something out. She threw it down and clouds of smoke appeared. Moments later, the smoke, and Cheshire, was gone.

And so was Red Arrow.

 

 

   Raven and Stephanie walked down the block slowly. They were on their way to find and fight Eclipse, although the Titans and the Team didn't know. It was a rainy night when they went to fight.

   "You sure you wanna do this, Steph?" Raven asked her friend.

   "He killed my family." Stephanie answered simply. "I want revenge."

   Suddenly the whole block filled with shadows.

   "Enough!" Raven shouted. "Come out and fight! Or are you scared?"

   Eclipse took away the extra shadows and revealed himself, his yellow eyes glowing.

   "You!" Stephanie shouted.

   Eclipse said nothing, but made a shadow sword and swung it towards Stephanie. Raven widened her eyes while Stephanie gasped. Quickly, Raven used her powers to block it, but the sword turned into a regular shadow and wrapped around Raven. He pulled her closer towards him.

"You attack," he rumbled to Stephanie. "I crush her."

"No!" Stephanie yelled. Raven widened her eyes as her friend shot blue power at Eclipse. Instantly, Eclipse squeezed Raven and her breath flew away. She struggled trying to catch breath, but instead she called out to Stephanie.

   "Don't! Steph, p-please. Don't... Attack... H...him..." Raven gasped out. At once Stephanie stopped, and Eclipse loosened his grip on Raven. She panted, gasping for air.

   Getting a sudden idea, she flew upwards, knowing their enemy loosened her too much. "Can't do much now, can you?" She called sarcastically to the enemy. Flying back down to her friend, she asked her if she wanted to fight Eclipse alone. Stephanie accepted eagerly and began hurting the enemy with her blue powers. Raven knew her friend had it under control. Suddenly, Eclipse began speaking.

     "I've taken everything most precious to you. Your classmates and teachers turned on you. I successfully killed your family. And Cora." Stephanie's eyes widened, her blood running cold. _Cora's dead?_ Raven read her thoughts and realized that Cora must've been close to Stephanie. "Now I will take the Titans. I've succeeded in killing everyone you love. Who's to say I can't do it again?" Stephanie froze, her eyes wide and staring at Eclipse. She never saw the shadow sword that aimed for her stomach. Pain overwhelmed her instantly, and all she heard was Raven.

   "Stephanie!" She screamed for her friend. Eclipse had put a shadow sword through Stephanie's stomach. She floated down, letting Raven catch her. Putting her down on the ground, Raven kneeled down and tried to heal her.

   "Y-You're alright, don't worry." Raven assured. "You'll be fine. Please be fine!" Raven had become fairly close to Stephanie since the Titans rescued her from Terra. She didn't want to lose her this quickly.

   "Hahahahahaha..." Eclipse laughed. Anger shot through Raven as she bolted towards Eclipse and hit him with everything she had.

   "This is over!" She screamed. Raven made a sword of her own from her powers and shot it at Eclipse. It exploded right when it hit the enemy. A huge boom sounded and smoke appeared everywhere. Raven stared at where Eclipse was, and then sighed in relief when she didn't see him.

   But a shadow sword zoomed out of the smoke, slashing through Raven's arm. She tried to pull away, but Eclipse held on.

   "Raven...?" A low mumble came from below. She looked down and saw Stephanie standing up, her arms around her injured stomach. "Look-look out!" Raven's head swung around at the last moment.

   Eclipse shot a shadow sword at Raven's chest, which sliced through. Raven's eyes went wide. The enemy let go of her, and, instead of floating down like Stephanie did, she fell, hurting her back. Eclipse grabbed her again and drew her closer to his face.

   "G-go ahead," Raven shouted at him, one of her eyes closed from pain. But both of her eyes showed tears pouring out like the rain in the cold night. "Kill me. Kill us both. The Titans and the-the Team with f-find you. And then karma will hit you, you damn demon from Azar knows where." She finished. Eclipse, angered by Raven, wrapped a shadow around her neck, choking her. Raven tried to pull the shadow off of her neck, but it didn't work. Her eyes wide, she flipped her legs to try and kick the shadow off.

   Nothing worked.

But to her surprise, Eclipse threw her on the ground. Gasping repeatedly, Raven gathered breath quickly. Instantly thinking, Raven got her communicator out and called Robin.

   "Raven? What's wrong? Where are you?" He demanded.

   "R-Robin," Raven began. Tears continued to fall from her hooded face, clearly visible. Her voice was completely forced, and she choked in breaths as she talked. "Here... now. Please. T-tried figh-" Raven gasped for breath, her eyes wide, as she cut herself off. Robin's masked eyes were huge. "Help me..."

   Suddenly, Stephanie got up, but she stumbled at first. _Of course! She healed herself enough!_ Raven realized.

   "Hey, you devil from hell!" Stephanie shouted. Raven widened her eyes. "Remember all those kids' families you killed? Remember _my family_ you killed? Payback time you big damn no life loser asshole!" Raven stared at Stephanie as she battled Eclipse once more, and won. A huge blue explosion happened, knocking her and Stephanie back a few feet.

   "Raven!" Robin yelled from the communicator. Barely conscious anymore, Raven tried to shout through the device, but it came as a whisper.

   "G-go..." Raven gasped out. Closing the communicator, she lay there, gasping for air. She held onto both sides of her arms as she shivered, from the pain, the cold, and the rain. Her chest and arm were in pain, and for once, she couldn't heal herself. Pain overwhelmed her, making her feel as if she was dying. _And I most likely am..._ Raven said in her mind. _I can't feel anything in my chest. It hurts. Emotions... going crazy. Powers don't work. Too much pain. Mind fuzzy._ She was just about to give up and just accept that she truly was dying when she heard someone. Moments later, she felt someone pick her up.

   It was Cyborg.

   She didn't say anything, just sighed, relieved that they got there just in time. Aqualad had picked Stephanie up, while the others were running back to the tower. But as they went back, Raven kept gasping for breath. She could barely breathe because of Eclipse, who had sliced a sword through her chest. Raven started to freak out, and tried to grab Cyborg's arm to tell him. Of all the pain she had ever been in through her life, this was the worst for her.

   "Raven?" Cyborg whispered. Raven could tell he was crying from the sound of his voice. "I-I won't lose you. Not today, Rave." But Raven barely heard him. Unable to catch breath, she let herself black out, feeling her eyes roll back, allowing the darkness to take over her, and prepared to greet Azar.

 


	21. Revealing Truths

Chapter 20: Revealing Truths

   Raven groaned as she slowly opened her eyes, feeling weak. Feeling something on her face, she realized it was a breathing mask. She tried to sit up but pain went through her chest. She turned and saw both teams watching the stats and discussing things with each other, with only Starfire, Robin, Beast Boy, and Artemis surrounding the bed.

   "Hey, Rae," Cyborg started, turning his head as he noticed the conscious Raven. "You ok?"

   "The fight... Stephanie..." Raven mumbled, her voice sounding as if she only used it once. Cyborg looked at her with sympathy.

   "She's alright, Rae. Look, I'm just happy you're alive. Raven, you're like a sister to me. I... I couldn't live without you, or the Titans." Cyborg murmured. Raven smiled slightly. Continuing, Cyborg added, "And that shadow sword? It barely missed your heart. I'd say you're lucky, Raven. We almost lost you. You seriously died, Rave. I... I barely saved you." Even though she was safe and alive now, Raven couldn't help but widen her eyes when her friend said the shadow sword almost pierced her heart, and when he said she was close to dying forever.

"Glad you're ok. I don't know you as well as I know my other friends, but one thing I do know is that I can't just watch you die." Artemis murmured. Starfire and Beast Boy just hugged Raven. For the first time, she let them.

   "Oh, friend Raven!" Starfire cried. "We were not certain if you would be alright."

   "Raven, I'm not sure what I would do with myself if you were gone." Beast Boy murmured. Raven thought he was about to break down, but he didn't.

   "You ok?" Robin asked her.

   "I guess. I mean, I feel fine." Raven answered calmly.

   The Titans and the Team told her to get some rest; they were fixing her up as well as Stephanie. Raven nodded and continued to sleep, hoping that tomorrow everything would be better.

 

"My mother was Huntress. My dad is Sportsmaster. And Cheshire... Jade... is my sister." Artemis said. The two teams were in the living room, sitting side by side on the sofa, while Artemis explained her heritage. Stephanie had recovered quickly from the night before, now wearing white bandages around her stomach where Eclipse had stabbed her. Raven had also recovered, wearing the same bandages around her chest and arm.

   "So," Kid Flash stood by Artemis. "Who's next?"

"Me." M'gaan answered.

"I swear I was kidding." Kid Flash looked worried.

   "Look, the Titans don't know. I know you guys do." M'gaan slightly smiled. To Raven's surprise, she started growing bigger until M'gaan was a white monster.

   "White Martian." M'gaan mumbled where she was standing in front of Artemis and Kid Flash.

   After a few moments, M'gaan turned back to normal and the three of them sat down on the sofa.

   "I haven't been honest, guys." Robin mumbled. "Raven, I'm sorry. I doubted Stephanie. I doubted _you_. I thought Stephanie wasn't good enough to be on the team. That she wasn't trustable. But I saw her yesterday, fighting that shadow through the tower window. I knew she would be alright then. If she wanted to betray us, she would've already. Not even Terra lasted this long on the team. Stephanie, Raven, I'm sorry."

   "It's alright." Both Raven and Stephanie murmured.

   "I'd also like to bring good news." Robin went on. "If the Team will want it, then they can officially join the Teen Titans."

   "We accept, Robin. And thank you. But please note that we will not always be here. Our main reason from coming here was to defeat Psimon for good. We do not intend to stay forever, although we would love to help out." Aqualad added. Robin nodded and sat back down. After a small hesitating, Raven spoke.

   "Look, guys..." Raven murmured, standing up and facing the two teams. "I-I..." She hesitated. Sighing, she knew there was no going back. "It's-it's Trigon. He's actually been controlling me for a while. He kept... he kept telling me to go out at night and search for bad guys. But all the times I did, something bad happened. Stephanie and Artemis caught me at different times and I had to lie to them. And he-he told me to lie to all of you."

"About what?" Robin asked.

Raven hesitated. "Everything."

   "Even though I said Trigon was gone... when I spoke to Arella-my mother," Raven added to the Team. "She said that my father would never truly be gone. I lied. And I...I'm sorry. It’s how I've always been. And how I'll always be." Raven finished.

   "Rae..." Cyborg murmured.

   "It doesn't matter." Beast Boy cut in, holding Raven's hands. "The Team loves you. The Titans love you." With no hesitation, he added, " _I_ love you. Nothing will ever change that."

   "Beast Bo- Hmph!" Raven got cut off as Beast Boy kissed her. Her eyes were wide, and then she wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes. Everyone stood up, surprised. Raven and Beast Boy looked at them, smiling, and then kissed again.

"Well, it's about time." Cyborg joked.

   Zatanna pulled Dick aside and did the same. Everyone did. M'gaan and Superboy, Kid Flash and Artemis, Rocket and Aqualad, Robin and Starfire.

   Stephanie glanced at Cyborg. "I'm sixteen." She murmured.

   Cyborg looked at her and smiled. "I know."

   "How do y-"

   "Raven told me." Cyborg said. Stephanie glanced at Raven.

   "Oh, you owe me." She called to Raven.

   Raven glanced at her friend and smiled. "I know." She and Beast Boy kissed again.

   Stephanie pulled Cyborg and started to kiss him too.

   _Happy ending after all,_ Raven thought. _Everything worked out. It's fine now. Met new people, helped Stephanie out, and most of all, I was honest. Thanks, guys,_ she added. _Thanks for making this all happen._ _I love you all..._ Raven and Beast Boy smiled at each other and put their heads together, staring with love.

   "I'm sorry." Raven murmured, suddenly looking away and frowning.

   "Why?" Beast Boy asked.

   "Because I... You were always there for me..." Raven went on. "I was hardly there for you."

   "It doesn't matter now," Beast Boy persuaded her. "I love you, and I'm never letting go." He sighed.

   "I won't let go, either." Raven murmured.

   "I love you." Beast Boy said.

   Raven smiled. "I love you too," After a quick thought, she added, "BB."

   They resumed kissing, and Raven realized that her story was one to share.

 

**_ Teen Titans and Young Justice belong to Warner Bros. and DC Comics. The mentions of any T.V. show BESIDES Teen Titans and Young Justice belong to whoever created the show. The appearances of Stephanie and Eclipse are mine. Background characters that are my OC's are Lauren, Luna, James, and Aaron currently. I own nothing but my own characters and ideas. Any images I include belong to their rightful owners; I only use them for inspiration but I still credit them. _ **


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